THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  ILLINOIS 

LIBRARY 


r 


ILUNWS  HISTORICAL  SURVEY 


Land  Tenure  in  the  United  States 
With  Special  Reference  to  Illinois 


BY 


CHARLES  LESLIE  STEWART 

A.  B.  Illinois  Wesley  an  University,  1911 
A.  M.  University  of  Illinois,  1912 


, 

Thesis  submitted  in  partial  fulfillment  of  the  require- 

ments for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  in 

Economics  in  the  Graduate  School   of  the 

University  of  Illinois 

1915 


Reprinted  from  the 

University  of  Illinois  Studies  in  the  Social  Sciences,  Vol.  V,  No.  3 
Urbana,  Illinois,  1916 


COPYRIGHT,  1916 
BY  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


PREFACE 

This  thesis  is  based  largely  upon  United  States  census  sta- 
tistics, the  reliability  of  which  is  seldom  questioned. 

Illinois  is  a  suitable  state  in  which  to  make  a  type  study  of 
land  tenure.  Its  value  for  such  a  study  arises  from:  (1)  its  size 
and  importance  in  the  production  of  grain;  (2)  the  variety  of 
conditions  in  its  agricultural  economy;  (3)  its  location  in  the 
great  farming  region  of  the  Mississippi  valley ;  (4)  the  ease  of 
access  its  farmers  have  to  large  local  markets  as  well  as  to  other 
domestic  and  to  foreign  markets;. and  (5)  the  fact  that,  agricul- 
turally, Illinois  is  neither  an  old  nor  a  new  state.  Fortunately, 
the  tenure  statistics  began  to  be  collected  at  the  time  when  nearly 
all  of  the  present  farm  area  had  just  been  put  under  cultivation. 

It  was  planned  to  carry  on  more  field  investigations  than 
circumstances  have  permitted.    There  is  need  for  cost  account-   S* 
ing  studies  in  the  relative  profitableness  of  various  forms_jiL^ 
tenure.    The  need  for  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  relation  of 
tenure  to  co-operative  enterprise,  roads,  schools,  churches,  and 
social  life  is  equally  pressing. 

The  writer  has  received  help  from  many  colleagues  in  the 
faculty  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  especially  from  members 
of  the  economic  seminar,  and  particularly  from  Professor  David 
Kinley,  director  of  the  seminar  and  dean  of  the  graduate  school. 


4"V  ;—     *   c«M  {•—    M 

354754 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PREFACE  ..  


CHAPTER  I.    A  SKETCH  OF  LAND  TENURE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 9 

The  trend  of  tenure,  1850  to  1880 — The  trend  of  tenure,  1880- 
to  1910 — Mortgage  encumbrance  on  owned  land — Causes  and  char- 
acteristic features  of  prevailing  forms  of  tenure — Relation  of 
tenure  to  farm  practice — Tenure  and  the  expansibility  of  the  farm 
area. 

CHAPTER  II.  TENDENCIES  IN  THE  AGRICULTURAL  ECONOMY  OF  ILLINOIS..    30 

Physiographic  influences — Population  and  agriculture — The 
value  of  farm  property — Some  changes  in  farm  practice. 

CHAPTER  III.     CHANGES  IN  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 43 

Tenure  statistics  for  the  state  as  a  whole — Statistics  of  farm 
tenure  by  counties — Statistics  of  land  tenure  by  counties — The 
sectional  aspects  of  land  tenure  in  Illinois — Historical  tendencies 
and  tenure  in  Illinois. 

CHAPTER  IV.    A  DESCRIPTION  OF  FARM  OPERATORS  IN  ILLINOIS 82 

The  basis  of  renting — The  acreage  operated — The  equipment 
of  the  various  operators — Some  items  of  income  and  expendi- 
ture— Emphasis  in  farm  practice — Mortgage  incumbrance  on  owned 
land — Race,  color,  and  nativity  of  farmers — Residence  and  landed 
wealth  of  owners — The  age  of  operators  in  relation  to  tenure  and 
encumbrance — Summary. 

CHAPTER  V.    THE  RELATION  OF  TENURE  TO  RURAL  ECONOMIC  AND  SO- 
CIAL CONDITIONS  IN  ILLINOIS 113 

The  decline  in  rural  population — Co-operative  enterprise  and 
rural  institutions — Equipment  in  farm  buildings — Concentration  on 
cereal  production — Tenancy  as  a  symptom  and  as  a  cause — Rising 
land  prices  as  a  handicap  to  popular  ownership  and  good  farm- 
ing— The  outlook. 

APPENDIX    125 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  127 

INDEX  134 

7 


LIST  OF  PLATES 


PAGE 


I.     The  Growth  of  the  Total  Population  and  of  the  Population  En- 
gaged in  Agriculture,  Illinois,  1820-1910 36 

II.    The  Number  of  Farms  and  of  Acres  in  Farms,  Total  and  Im- 
proved, Illinois,  1850-1910  38 

III.     The   Percentage   of   Operators    Belonging    to    Ten-Year    Age- 
Groups,  Illinois,  1890-1910 109 

LIST  OF  SHADED  COUNTY  OUTLINE  MAPS  OF  ILLINOIS 

I.    The  Percentage  of  Farms  Operated  by  Tenants,  1880 50 

II.     The  Percentage  of  Farms  Operated  by  Tenants,  1890 51 

III.  The  Percentage  of  Farms  Operated  by  Tenants,  1900 53 

IV.  The  Percentage  of  Farms  Operated  by  Tenants,  1910 54 

V.     The  Percentage  of  Farm  Acreage  Operated  by  Tenants,  1910..  57 

VI.    The  Percentage  of  Farm  Acreage  Operated  under  Lease  by 

Part  Owners,  1910 58 

VII.     The  Percentage  of  Farm  Acreage  Operated  under  Lease  by 

Tenants  and  Part  Owners,  1910 60 

VIII.    The   Percentage  of    Farm   Acreage    Operated    by    Owners 

Proper,  1910  t 61 

IX.     The  Percentage  of  Land  Area  in  Farms,  1910 •. 63 

X.     The  Average  Number  of  Acres  per  Farm,  1910 69- 

XI.    The  Average  Value  of  Land  and  Buildings  per  Acre,  1880 76 

XII.     The  Average  Value  of  Land  and  Buildings  per  Acre,  1910 77 

XIII.  The  Percentage  of  Increase  in  the  Value  of  Land  and  Build- 

ings per  Acre,  1900-1910 79 

XIV.  The  Percentage  of  Tenant  Farms  Rented  for  Cash,  1910 84 

XV.     The  Percentage  of  Owners   (and  Part  Owners)    Operating 

under  Mortgage  Encumbrance  98 

XVI.     The  Percentage  of  the  Value  of  Mortgaged  Farms  Repre- 
sented by  the  Mortgage  Debt,  1910 101 

XVII.     The  Direction  and  Percentage  of  Change  in  the  Number  of 
Inhabitants   Dwelling  Outside   of    Incorporated    Places, 

1900-1910  1 1 5 

XVIII.    The  Average  Value  of  Buildings  per  Acre 119 


CHAPTER  I 
A  SKETCH  OF  LAND  TENURE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

From  the  earliest  date  of  colonization  the  land  in  the 
territory  of  the  United  States  has  been  held  under  a  system  of 
tenure  distinguished  for  its  simplicity.  The  feudal  tenure  of 
Europe  never  obtained  much  footing  in  the  United  States  and 
was  influential  chiefly  in  that  Americans  reacted  against  it.1  In 
place  of  a  complicated  system  of  legal  fictions  and  customary 
relations  and  charges,  the  land  system  of  the  United  States  may 
be  said  to  consist  simply  of  two  forms :  ownership ;  and  tenancy, 
whether  on  a  cash,  share,  or  combined  basis.  The  ownership  is 
that  which  is  known  technically  as  allodial,  that  is,  ownership  in 
fee  simple,  free  from  any  requirement  of  rent  or  service  and 
from  any  other  restriction  except  that  reserved  by  the  state  in 
its  right  to  tax,  to  exercise  police  power,  and  to  force  sales  by 
virtue  of  the  power  of  eminent  domain. 

Between  the  years  1782  and  1790,  six  of  the  seven  con- 
federated states  which  had  claims  to  lands  west  of  the  Appa- 
lachian mountains  had  their  cessions  accepted  by  congress.2 
This  laid  upon  Congress  the  responsibility  of  disposing  of  the 
Western  lands.  Congress  in  1785  and  1787  passed  resolutions 
which  established  the  foundations  of  the  national  land  policy. 
The  principles  laid  down  were  that  the  land  should  be  alienated 
by  the  government  to  settlers;  that  non-resident  land  owners 
should  not  be  taxed  higher  than  resident  land  owners;  that  the 
New  England  rectangular  system  should  be  employed;  that 
the  lands  should  be  surveyed  prior  to  settlement,  and  sold  in 
small  minimum  parcels  at  low  prices;  that  registry  should  be 
cheap,  and  conveyance  simple ;  that  the  property  of  persons  dying 
intestate  should  be  equally  distributed  among  the  children. 
These  provisions,  together  with  the  abundance  of  the  lands,  have 

1See  article  by  Taylor,  H.  C.,  in  Cyclopedia  of  American  Agriculture, 
IV,  174-175. 

2New  York,  1/82;  Virginia,  1784;  Massachusetts,  1/85;  Connecticut, 
1786,  and  North  Carolina,  1790.  The  offer  of  Georgia  was  made  and 
rejected  in  1788  and  a  satisfactory  agreement  was  not  reached  until  1802. 
See  Treat,  P.  J.,  The  National  Land  System,  1785-1820,  15. 

9 


10  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [404 

exercised  a  most  democratic  influence  upon  the  agricultural, 
social  and  political  life  of  the  nation.3 

The  public  domain  of  the  United  States  grew  by  conquest 
and  purchase  at  a  most  phenomenal  rate.  To  the  quarter  of  a 
million  acres  ceded  by  the  states  prior  to  1803  there  was  added 
to  the  public  domain  in  that  year  over  three  quarters  of  a  million 
acres.  Acquisitions  in  Florida  and  in  the  Southwest  increased 
the  public  domain  by  a  half  billion  acres,  and  the  Alaskan  pur- 
chase brought  the  total  land  acreage  owned  by  the  United  States 
government  to  nearly  two  billion.4 

These  lands  were  disposed  of  at  a  rate  sometimes  appalling.5 
During  the  period,  1831  to  1840,  the  annual  acreage  sold  ex- 
ceeded six  million  on  the  average.  During  the  next  forty  years 
the  land  sold  averaged  two-thirds  that  amount  annually.  From 
1881  to  1888  over  twelve  million  acres  left  the  hands  of  the  gov- 
ernment in  an  average  year. 

From  1888  to  1900,  the  annual  amount  of  land  taken  up  un- 
derwent a  rapid  decline,  however,  and  since  1900  very  little 
of  the  public  domain  has  been  sold  or  given  away. 

Under  such  conditions  there  is  little  wonder  that  during 
the  earlier  days  the  major  part  of  the  population  devoted  itself 
to  agriculture.  The  census  enumerations  show  that  in  1820, 
83.0,  and  in  1840,  77.5  percent  of  the  "occupied"  population  was 
engaged  in  agriculture.6 

Not  only  did  agriculture  employ  the  energy  of  the  larger 
part  of  the  American  people  up  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
but  the  greater  part  of  the  free  farm  families  was  undoubtedly 
in  full  ownership  of  their  farms  and  homes.  The  land  was  taken 
up,  in  most  cases,  in  tracts  of  a  size  suitable  for  almost  every  one 
to  own  a  farm,  and  the  owners  were  usually  in  such  an  economic 
condition  that  they  needed  the  full  return  from  their  land 
instead  of  the  small  fraction  which  they  could  receive  as  rental 
incomes.  Furthermore,  urban  life  had  not  developed  to  a  point 
where  land  owners  were  induced  on  any  great  scale  to  leave  their 
farms  so  as  to  reside  in  the  cities.  Under  such  conditions,  even 
though  farm  rents  were  low,  tenancy  had  only  a  small  place  in 
American  agriculture. 

The  path  to  land  ownership  needed  at  most  to  have  no  more 
than  three  stages,  that  of  farm  laborer,  followed  by  a  period  of 

slbid.,  ch.  II. 

4Sato,  Shosuke :  History  of  the  Land  Question  in  the  United  States,  6. 
5Taylor,  H.  C.  Syllabus  of  Lectures  on  Agricultural  Economics,  78. 
6Census,  1900,  Occupations,  xxx. 


405] 


11 


operating  leased  land,  and  ending  in  the  ownership  of  one  or 
more  farms.  The  passage  from  a  propertyless  to  a  propertied 
condition  was  one  almost  certain  in  its  possibility  of  accom- 
plishment by  any  able-bodied,  industrious  individual.  In  many 
cases,  the  laborer  entered  land  directly  without  having  to  pass 
through  the  tenant  status.  Where  tenancy  was  resorted  to  as  a 
step  to  land  ownership,  it  was  a  status  from  which  the  indi- 
vidual could  usually  rise  in  a  few  years. 

THE  TREND  OF  TENURE,  1850  TO  1880 

Whether  tenancy  was  becoming  more  or  less  prevalent  dur- 
ing the  generation  before  1880  is  a  question.  The  estimates  and 
opinions  on  tenancy  before  1880  are  "hard  to  free  from  the 
prejudice  prevailing  when  they  were  expressed. 

Possibly  the  most  definite  opinions  offered  on  the  trend  of 
tenure  in  the  United  States  before  1880  are  those  of  Dr.  L.  G. 
Powers  who  supplied  some  statistics  on  land  tenure  for  the  per- 
iod, 1850  to  1870.7  Dr.  Powers  also  gave  some  statistical  esti- 
mates for  the  year,  1880,  which  bear  some  relation  to  the  tenure 
statistics  of  the  census  of  that  date.  The  estimates  he  gave 
are  as  follows: 

STATISTICAL   ESTIMATES   OF  LAND  TENURE   IN   THE  UNITED   STATES,    1850-1880, 
AFTER  L.  G.   POWERS.8 


Year 
Total  farm  families  ........ 

Farm  owning  families  ...... 

Families   of   tenants,   la- 

borers and  slaves  ...... 

Families  of   slaves  ............       461,  5OO9 

Families   of  tenants   and 

laborers  ......................       672,5oo9 

Families  of  tenants 
Families  of   laborers 


1850 

2,458,000 
1,325,000 

i,i33,ooo9 


1860 

3,358,750 
1,850,000 

1,508,750 
595,ooo 


1870 

4,082,700 
2,220,000 


1880 

4,935,000 
3,068,000 


1,862,000        1,867,000 


913,750        1,862,000        1,867,000 


542,000 

From  these  estimates  it  appears  that  the  increase  in  the 
number  of  farm  owning  families  was  over  twice  as  great  as  the 
increase  in  the  number  of  families  of  tenants  and  laborers, 
(including  slaves  in  1850).  The  percentage  of  farm  families 

7The  American  Statistical  Association  Publications,  Vol.  V,  329-344. 
^American  Statistical  Association  Publications,  V,  344 
9An  error  of  1000  was  made  in  these  figures. 

10This  is  300,000  in  excess  of  the  number  of  tenant  farms  as  reported 
by  the  Tenth  census. 


12  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [406 

owning  their  farms  increased,  according  to  the  view  of  Dr. 
Powers,  from  53.9  in  1850,  to  62.2  in  1880. 

The  estimate  that  only  53.9  per  cent  of  the  farm  families 
owned  their  farms  in  1850  is  probably  an  under-statement  of  the 
extent  to  which  ownership  prevailed  at  that  time.  It  is  probable 
that  a  larger  proportion  of  the  farmers  owned  their  places  in 
1850  than  in  1880.  Several  facts  support  this  view.  In  1850  the 
cotton  lands  were  operated  largely  by  the  owners,  of  whom 
those  who  were  too  poor  to  own  slaves  were  too  poor  to  live 
without  cultivating  their  own  land,  and  those  who  had  slaves 
seldom  leased  the  land  to  others  to  operate.  Outside  of  the 
cotton  belt,  land  was  being  taken  up  in  the  North  and  "West  at 
a  rapid  rate,  particularly  during  the  sixties.  Those  who  took 
up  new  land  during  this  thirty-year  period  were  to  some  extent 
former  tenants,  and  by  changing  to  owners  must  have  tended 
to  reduce  the  percentage  of  tenancy.  Since  the  area  of  recently 
occupied  land  was  being  rapidly  extended  in  the  "West,  the 
influence  of  that  section  must  have  been  more  strongly  against 
tenancy  in  the  seventies  than  in  the  fifties.  There  seems,  cer- 
tainly, to  be  no  evidence  that  the  trend  of  conditions  between 
1850  and  1880  was  enough  different  from  the  trend  since  1880 
to  cause  a  movement  toward  ownership  before  1880  and  toward 
tenancy  after  that  date. 

Those  who  assume  that  the  prevalence  of  large  farms  is 
conducive  to  tenant  operation  may  argue  that  the  decline  in  the 
size  of  farms  during  this  period  is  an  evidence  of  growth  in 
popular  ownership  of  the  land.  The  large  farms  of  this  period, 
however,  were  chiefly  in  the  newer  country  where  land  ownership 
was  easy  to  acquire.  In  the  older  parts  of  the  country,  in  spite 
of  the  increasing  use  of  machinery,  the  farms  were  becoming 
smaller  in  all  except  the  Southern  states.  The  tendency  to 
subdivide  the  older  farms  probably  stayed  somewhat  the  trend 
toward  tenant  farming,  though  it  would  be  hazardous  to  say  that 
it  overcame  that  tendency. 

Between  1850  and  1880,  it  is  probable  that  the  tendency  in 
the  South  was  towards  tenancy,  in  the  "West  towards  ownership, 
and  in  the  North  and  East,  towards  tenancy.  In  the  country 
as  a  whole  the  trend  towards  tenancy  was  getting  under  way. 

THE   TREND   OF   TENURE,   1880   TO   1910 

Beginning  with  the  tenth  census,  1880,  we  have  reliable 
statistics  on  tenancy  for  every  county  in  the  United  States.  Data 


407]  LAND  TENURE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  13 

have  been  taken  with  the  farm11  as  the  basis  for  each  decennial 
enumeration  since  that  date.  At  the  eleventh  census  special 
data  were  gathered  on  farm  and  home  ownership.  In  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  census  reports  tenure  statistics  were  also  pre- 
sented on  the  basis  of  acreage  of  land  in  farms. 

When  the  results  of  the  tenth  census  were  published  con- 
siderable surprise  was  evinced  at  the  extent  to  which  the  farms 
of  the  United  States  were  operated  by  tenants.  Since  that  time, 
however,  tenancy  has  become  more  and  more  prevalent  in  the 
country. 

All  of  the  elements  of  the  farm  population  showed  an  in- 
crease in  number  in  1910  as  compared  with  1880.12  The  per- 
centage of  increase  in  the  number  of  farms  was  60;  in  the 
number  of  all  persons  engaged  in  agriculture,  40 ;  in  the  number 
of  owners,  part  owners,13  and  managers,  35 ;  of  farm  employees — 
persons  other  than  owners,  part  owners,  tenants  and  managers, — 
20  ;14  and  of  tenants,  130. 

The  table  on  the  next  page  summarizes  the  census  data  on 
the  tenure  of  farms  for  the  main  geographic  divisions. 

Taking  the  country  as  a  whole  the  percentage  of  farms 
operated  by  tenants  increased  from  25.6  in  1880  to  37.0  in  1910. 
The  decade  during  which  the  major  part  of  the  increase  took 
place  was  the  one  from  1890  to  1900.  Every  division  of  the 
country  outside  of  New  England  showed  an  increase  in  the 
percentage  of  farms  operated  by  tenants.  In  the  North  Central 
group  the  percentage  rose  from  a  little  over  20  in  1880  to 

11"A  'farm'  for  census  purposes  is  all  the  land  which  is  directly  farmed 
by  one  person  managing  and  conducting  agricultural  operations,  either  by 
his  own  labor  alone  or  with  the  assistance  of  members  of  his  household 
or  hired  employees."  "When  a  landowner  has  one  or  more  renters, 
croppers,  or  managers,  the  land  operated  by  each  is  considered  a  'farm'." 

12Census,  1910,  V,  122,  adapted. 

13A  part  owner  owns  some  of  the  land  he  operates,  and  rents  additional 
land. 

14The  relative  decrease  in  prominence  of  the  farm  employees,  is 
probably  due  to  the  increased  efficiency  of  all  farm  workers.  The  total 
acreage  per  male  in  agriculture  increased  from  65.5  in  1880  to  71.0  in 
1910,  an  increase  of  8.4  per  cent.  (Census,  1900,  V.  xviii,  and  1910, 
V,  28.)  The  improved  acreage  per  individual  in  agriculture  was  38.7  in 
1910  as  compared  with  34.8  in  1880,  an  increase  of  10.0  per  cent.  The 
cause  of  this  increase  is  to  be  found  mainly  in  agricultural  machinery,  the 
use  and  labor-saving  efficiency  of  which  has  undergone  a  considerable 
increase  during  the  period  since  1880. 


14 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[408 


somewhat  less  than  30  in  1910 ;  in  the  South  Central  states,  from 
about  36  in  1880  to  a  little  over  50  in  1910;  and  in  the  South 
Atlantic  group  from  36  to  nearly  46  in  1910. 

The  old  New  England  districts  and  the  new  Western  re- 
gions were  characterized  by  small  percentages  of  tenancy,  the 
former  chiefly  because  of  the  agricultural  depression  which 
drove  tenant  farmers  to  other  sections,  and  the  latter  largely 
on  account  of  the  chance  for  farmers  to  become  landowners  there. 

A  comparison  of  the  percentages  assigned  to  the  various 
geographic  divisions  reveals  a  wider  spread  or  range  each  suc- 
ceeding decade.  The  percentage  of  tenant  farms  has  moved 
higher  most  markedly  where  it  was  highest  previously,  and  has 
shown  least  positiveness  in  increasing  where  it  was  already  low. 
Taken  as  a  whole,  the  increase  in  prevalence  of  tenant  farming 
has  been  persistent,  although  not  very  rapid. 

PERCENTAGE   OF   FARMS    OPERATED    UNDER   VARIOUS    FORMS   OF   TENURE, 
UNITED    STATES,    iSSo-IQIO.15 


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Tenants 

1910  

37-0 

8.0 

22.3 

27.0 

30.9 

45-9 

50.7 

52.8 

10.7 

17-2 

1900  

35-3 

94 

25.3 

26.3 

29.6 

44-2 

48.1 

49-1 

12.2 

19.7 

1890  

28.4 

9-3 

22.1 

22.8 

24.0 

38.5 

38.3 

38.6 

7-1 

14-7 

1880  

25.6 

8.5 

19.2 

20.5 

20.5 

36.1 

36.8 

35-2 

74 

16.8 

Part  owners 

1910  

9-3 

3-1 

5-5 

11.7 

16.1 

64 

6.9 

7-6 

8.6 

10.9 

1900  

7-9 

2-9 

44 

IO.O 

14.5 

4-9 

5-0 

5-5 

8.3 

H-3 

Managers 

1910  

0.9 

2.8 

1.9 

I.O 

0.8 

0.7 

0.3 

o.5 

1.6 

2.8 

1900  

I.O 

2.5 

1-7 

I.O 

0.8 

0.9 

0-5 

0.7 

34 

2.9 

Owners  proper 

1910  

52.7 

86.1 

70.3 

60.3 

52.3 

46.9 

42.1 

39-1 

79.1 

69.1 

1900  

55-8 

85.2 

68.5 

62.8 

55-1 

49.9 

46.3 

44-8 

76.1 

66.1 

The  farms  operated  by  part  owners  and  managers  were 
doubtless  classified  with  those  of  owners  proper  in  1880  and  1890. 
There  has  been  a  tendency  to  adopt  the  same  practice  in  present- 

15Census,  1910,  V,  122,  123. 


409]  LAND  TENURE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  15 

ing  the  tenure  statistics  for  1900  and  1910,  especially  where 
comparisons  with  the  earlier  dates  are  being  made.  So  far  as 
the  managed  farms  are  concerned,  the  error  involved  in  counting 
them  in  with  the  farms  operated  by  owners  is  not  great.  There 
was  no  section  in  which  managed  farms  constituted  more  than 
three  per  cent  of  all  farms  in  1910.  For  some  purposes  it  is 
desirable  to  regard  the  farms  of  part  owners  as  not  essentially 
different  from  the  farms  of  owners  proper.  In  1900  the  farms 
of  part  owners  contained,  on  the  average,  nearly  5  acres  more 
of  owned  land  than  the  average  farm  entirely  owned  by  the 
operator.16  The  part  owners  constituted  9.3  per  cent  of  all  farm 
operators  in  1910. 

The  tenure  statistics  based  on  farms  afford  a  good  idea  of  the 
numbers  of  the  various  kinds  of  operators.  Tenure  data  based 
on  acreage,  however,  give  some  slightly  different  impressions. 
The  cause  of  the  variations  is  the  fact  that  farms  differ  in  size 
between  various  tenures  and  sections. 

The  average  acreage  of  all  farms  declined  from  146.2  in 
1900  to  138.1  in  1910.17  Only  the  farms  of  the  Nofth  Central 
states  showed  a  tendency  to  increase  in  size.  The  divisions 
where  small  farms  prevailed  in  1900  underwent  a  still  further 
reduction  in  the  size  of  operating  units  by  1910. 

In  the  North  East  quarter  of  the  country  and  in  the  Moun- 
tain and  Pacific  divisions,  on  the  other  hand,  the  size  of  tenant 
farms  was  greater  than  that  of  the  farms  operated  by  the 
owners.  As  a  rule,  however,  the  tenants  operated  farms  less 
than  two-thirds  as  large  as  those  operated  by  the  owners.  In 
the  South  Central  states  the  tenant  farms  were  between  a  third 
and  a  half  as  large,  on  the  average,  as  the  farms  of  owners. 

The  farms  of  part  owners  were  approximately  twice  as 
large  as  those  of  owners  proper  in  1900,  but  fell  off  nearly  20 
per  cent  by  1910,  while  the  farms  of  owners  proper  underwent  a 
slight  increase  during  that  period.  The  enormous  farms  of 
managers  were  in  the  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi  river, 
where  the  farms  of  all  tenures,  except  tenants  in  the  "West  South 
Central  states,  were  much  above  the  general  average  in  size. 

On  the  basis  of  farms,  tenancy  was  most  marked  in  the 
Southern  states.  The  number  of  tenant  farms  and  the  per- 
centage of  farms  operated  by  tenants  in  the  states  of  those  divis- 

16See  below,  p.  21. 
"Census,  1910,  V,  114,  137- 


16 


LAND  TENUEE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[410 


ions  has  been  so  great  and  increasing  so  rapidly18  as  to  give  more 
or  less  alarm  to  some  students  of  the  situation.  When,  however, 
the  statistics  of  tenure  are  placed  on  the  basis  of  acreage,  as  in 
the  next  table,  the  percentage  of  tenancy  in  the  South  loses 
much  of  its  alarming  magnitude.  This  is  due  to  the  small  size 

PERCENTAGE   OF    FARM    ACREAGE   OPERATED    UNDER   VARIOUS    FORMS    OF   TENURE, 
UNITED  STATES,   IQOO-IQIO.19 


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Tenants 

1910  

25.8 

7-8 

2=5.9 

30.O 

27.O 

30.  1 

27.9 

267 

10.6 

IQ.8 

1900  

23.3 

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9.4 

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28.6 

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27.3 

23.6 

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30.6 

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9.4 

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1910  

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15-2 
14-9 

4-2 
4.2 

7-4 
5-9 

13-9 
II.7 

23-9 
23-7 

6.3 

4-7 

8.0 

5-8 

13.8 

17.7 

I6.7 
22.O 

21.7 
19-6 

Rented  by  part  owners 

1910  

7-4 

1.6 

2.1 

6.2 

II.5 

2.4 

2.7 

6.4 

8.9 

I.I 

1900  

7-1 

1.6 

1.6 

5-2 

II.4 

1.8 

2.0 

8.2 

12.5 

I.O 

Owned  by  part  owners 

1910  

7-8 

2.6 

5-3 

7.7 

12.4 

3-9 

5-3 

7-4 

7-8 

20.6 

1900  

7-8 

2.6 

4-3 

6.5    12.3 

2.9 

3-8 

9-5 

9-5 

18.6 

Owners  proper 

1910  

52.9 

82.5 

62.7 

54-1      47-0 

60.4 

52.1 

47-9 

53-2 

43-1 

1900  

51-4 

82.5 

62.2 

59.0     49.4 

61.4 

64.8 

37-1 

33-0 

42.9 

Managers 

1910  

6.1 

5-5 

4-0 

2.O 

2.1 

3-2 

2.0 

1  1.6 

18.5 

154 

1900  

10.4 

3-9 

3-3 

2.O 

3-3 

3-3 

2.0 

26.2 

35-6 

18.0 

All  lessees 

1910  

33-2 

9-4 

28.0 

36.2 

38-5 

32.5 

30.6 

33-1 

19-5 

20.9 

1900  

30.4 

II.O 

30.2 

32.5 

35-0 

32.4 

29-4 

27.2 

21.9 

20.5 

All  deed-holders 

1910  

60.7 

85.1 

68.0 

61.8 

59-4 

64-3 

67.4 

55-3 

62.0 

637 

1900  

59-2 

85.1 

66.5 

65-5 

61.7 

64.3 

68.6 

46.6 

42.5 

61.5 

18In  Texas  the  number  of  farm  tenants  increased  from  174,991  in  1900 
to  219,575  in  1910.  (Census,  1910,  V,  213.)  In  Mississippi  the  percentage 
of  farms  operated  by  tenants  increased  from  62.4  in  1900  to  66.1  in  1910. 
(Census,  1910,  V,  126.) 

19Census,  1900,  V,  308;  1910,  V.  114. 


411]  LAND  TENURE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  17 

of  the  tenant  farms  in  that  region.  The  social  significance  of 
tenancy  in  the  South  is  not  minimized,  however,  but  rather  aug- 
mented by  the  fact  that  great  numbers  of  tenants  operate  small 
farms.  On  the  basis  of  acreage  the  East  North  Central  division 
is  nearly  abreast  with  the  South  Atlantic  division  in  the  per- 
centage of  tenancy,  while  the  "West  North  Central  states  stand 
between  the  East  and  West  South  Central  groups.  On  the  whole, 
the  percentages  of  tenancy  are  much  more  nearly  uniform  in  the 
various  divisions  when  the  statistics  are  based  upon  acreage 
than  when  based  upon  farms. 

Because  of  the  large  size  of  their  farms,  the  proportion  of 
farm  land  operated  by  part  owners  and  by  managers  is  much 
larger  than  the  number  of  such  operators  would  indicate.  In 
1910  the  part  owners  operated  three-fifths  as  much  farm  land 
as  the  tenants.  They  hired  nearly  half  of  this  land.  Counting 
both  the  land  hired  by  part  owners  and  the  land  hired  by  ten- 
ants, the  data  indicate  that  in  1910  the  leasing  of  farm  land 
was  most  prevalent  in  the  North  Central  states.20 

The  percentage  of  farm  land  leased  in  the  Unii§d  States  in 
both  1900  and  1910  was  smaller  than  indicated  by  the  data  based 
on  the  number  of  tenant  farms.  On  the  other  hand,  while  there 
was  only  a  slight  increase  in  the  percentage  of  farms  operated 
by  tenants  between  1900  and  1910,  the  proportion  of  the  farm 
land  operated  under  lease  was  considerably  greater  in  1910  than 
in  1900. 

Managers  controlled  6.1  per  cent  of  the  farm  land  in  the 
United  States  in  1910.  In  the  "West  South  Central  and  Moun- 
tain divisions  they  operated  between  10  and  20  per  cent  of 
the  land. 

In  nearly  all  discussions  of  land  tenure  in  the  United  States, 
only  the  statistics  on  farms  operated  by  tenants  have  been  em- 
ployed, and  the  reader  naturally  supposes  that  the  farms  which 
are  not  operated  by  tenants  are  cultivated  by  their  owners.  The 
data  on  the  percentage  of  farms  operated  by  tenants21  suggests 
that  (1)  owners  operated  a  smaller  part  of  the  land  in  the 
Southern  states  than  in  any  other  division  of  the  country;  that 

20The  individual  states  in  which  the  percentages  of  farm  land  operated 
under  lease  were  highest  are  as  follows :  in  1900,  Delaware,  59.5 ;  Illinois, 
45.2;  and  Maryland,  43.2  (Census,  1900,  V,  142,  308)  ;  in  1910,  Oklahoma, 
€3.1;  Delaware,  52.8;  and  Illinois,  51.0.  The  figures  for  1910  are  estimates 
in  the  case  of  Delaware,  where  the  error  can  be  only  slight,  and  in  the 
case  of  Oklahoma,  where  the  error  may  be  large.  (Census,  1900,  V,  142, 
308,  and  1910,  V,  124-126,  820.) 

21  See  above,  p.  14. 


18  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [412 

(2)  the  farms  of  the  Mountain  and  Pacific  states  were  almost 
exclusively  in  the  hands  of  owners;  and  that  (3)  operation  of 
farms  by  owners  was  declining  between  1900  and  1910.  Each 
of  these  three  contentions  must  be  modified  or  rejected  when  the 
statistics  of  acreage  are  examined.  Outside  of  the  New  England 
and  Middle  Atlantic  states,  operation  of  land  by  owners  was 
most  prevalent  in  the  East  South  Central  and  South  Atlantic 
states.  Ownership  was  least  common  in  the  "West  South  Central 
and  "West  North  Central  groups.  In  the  territory  east  of  the 
Mississippi  river,  ownership  was  less  prevalent  in  the  East 
North  Central  states  than  in  any  other  division. 

Operation  by  owners,  while  shown  to  be  smaller  by  the 
data  based  on  acreage  than  might  be  inferred  from  the  more 
commonly  quoted  data  based  on  farms,  was  more  prevalent  in 
the  country  as  a  whole  in  1930  than  in  1900.  It  appears,  there- 
fore, that  while  the  trend  in  the  tenure  of  farms  was  somewhat 
toward  tenancy,  the  trend  in  the  tenure  of  farm  land  was  toward 
a  relative  increase  of  both  the  leased  and  the  owned  acreage 
at  the  expose  of  the  acreage  controlled  by  managers.  This  was 
true  especially  in  the  West  South  Central,  Mountain  and  Pacific 
divisions.  In  the  Middle  Atlantic  states  the  trend  was  toward 
ownership  because  of  the  decline  in  the  percentage  of  farms 
run  by  tenants.  In  the  North  Central  states,  however,  both  east 
and  west  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  in  the  East  South  Central 
states,  the  trend  was  toward  land  leasing  and  away  from  oper- 
ation by  the  owners. 

MORTGAGE  ENCUMBRANCE  ON  OWNED  LAND 

Although  approximately  6  out  of  10  acres  are  operated  by 
the  owners  in  the  United  States,  in  many  cases  the  nominal 
owners  hold  only  an  equity  in  the  land.  Statistics  on  farm  mort- 
gages were  gathered  in  1890,  1900  and  1910.  They  related  only 
to  farm  land  operated  by  the  owners,  the  part  owners  in  most 
cases  having  limited  their  reports  to  the  land  owned  by  them.22 

The  percentage  free  from  mortgage  in  the  United  States 
declined  from  71.8  in  1890  to  66.4  in  1910.23  The  percentage  of 

22Census,  1910,   V,   157. 

23Census,  1910,  V,  160,  162.  The  report  for  1910  "covers  only  farms 
which  consisted  wholly  of  land  owned  by  the  operator  and  for  which 
the  value  of  land  and  buildings  and  the  amount  of  mortgage  debt  were 
reported;"  whereas  the  report  for  1890  "covers  all  owned  farm  homes, 
estimates  being  made  for  all  farms  with  defective  reports;  the  statistics 
cover  only  the  land  owned  by  the  farmer  in  the  case  of  farmers  renting 
additional  land." 


413]  LAND  TENURE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  19 

farms  operated  by  owners  under  mortgage  in  1910  was  greater 
in  the  "West  North  Central  group  of  states  than  in  any  other 
division,  although  that  division  was  the  only  one  in  which  there 
was  a  decline  from  the  percentage  prevailing  in  1890.  The 
district  having  the  highest  percentage  of  farms  operated  by 
owners  encumbered  east  of  the  Mississippi  was  the  East  North 
Central  division.  Mortgaging  of  farms  operated  by  owners 
appears  to  have  been  least  common  in  the  Southern  states,  al- 
though compared  with  the  percentages  prevailing  in  1890  in  those 
divisions  the  practice  appears  to  have  been  growing  with  re- 
markable rapidity. 

Outside  of  the  two  North  Central  groups,  there  appears  to 
be  no  correlation  between  the  percentage  of  land  leased  and  the 
extent  to  which  the  owned  land  is  mortgaged.  In  those  divisions, 
however,  we  find  both  the  highest  percentage  of  the  farm  land 
operated  under  lease  and  the  highest  percentage  of  the  remainder 
of  the  farm  land  owned  under  mortgage. 

In  all  sections  of  the  country  there  was  a  decline  in  the 
ratio  of  debt  to  value  of  farm  property  between  1890  and  1900. 
The  equity  increased  from  64.5  per  cent  in  1890  to  72.7  per  cent 
in  1910.23  This  was  in  spite  of  the  increase  of  40.1  per  cent  in 
the  amount  of  indebtedness  on  the  average  American  farm  be- 
tween the  two  dates.  The  amount  of  equity  increased  106.0 
per  cent.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  the  rise  in  the  value  of  mort- 
gaged farms  was  so  great  that  the  increase  in  mortgage  debt 
could  not  keep  up  with  it.  This  was  less  true  of  New  England 
and  the  Middle  Atlantic  states  than  of  the  remainder  of  the 
country.  The  proportion  of  the  value  of  mortgaged  farms  cov- 
ered by  mortgage  was  highest  in  those  divisions  in  1910. 

To  summarize,  in  1910  in  the  United  States  as  a  whole  33.2 
per  cent  of  the  farm  acreage  was  operated  under  lease,  6.1  by 
salaried  managers,  about  20.4  by  owners  under  mortgage, — the 
mortgage  indebtedness  representing  27.3  per  cent  of  the  value 
of  the  farms.  Only  about  40  per  cent  of  the  farm  land  was 
operated  by  owners  clear  of  mortgage  encumbrance. 

CAUSES  AND   CHARACTERISTIC  FEATURES  OF  PREVAILING  FORMS 

OF  TENURE. 

The  conditions  underlying  the  various  forms  of  tenure  in 
American  agriculture  may,  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  be  con- 
sidered from  three  points  of  view.  It  is  important  in  the  first 
place,  to  understand  the  position  of  the  owners  of  land,  and  of 
the  farm  operators.  A  consideration  of  the  question  which. 

23Ibid. 


20  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [414 

form  of  tenure  best  conserves  the  land  and  improves  farm  pro- 
duction requires  a  somewhat  different  outlook.  The  relation  of 
the  various  forms  of  tenure  to  the  general  economic  conditions 
of  the  nation  is  a  third  point  of  vantage  from  which  to  study 
tenure. 

There  are  numbers  of  cases  where  the  owners  of  land  could 
not  well  keep  from  being  landlords.  In  the  case  of  women  and 
children  inexperience  or  immaturity  as  a  rule  unfits  them  for 
operating  farms.  Owners  of  land  in  extraordinarily  large 
tracts,  or  in  tracts  widely  distant,24  frequently  find  that  it  pays 
them  best  to  rent  some  and  operate  the  rest  of  their  soil.  Owners 
sometimes  rent  their  land  so  that  they  may  devote  their  time  to 
other  interests,  such  as  travel,  politics,  business,25  health,  or  some 
special  service.  Such  interests  often  cause  the  owner  to  dis- 
continue the  operation  of  his  farm  for  a  number  of  seasons  and 
sometimes  to  quit  active  farming  altogether.  Again,  when  an 
owner  and  his  wife  become  advanced  in  age  their  increasing 
dependence  on  hired  help  in  the  field  and  in  the  home  often 
makes  it  advisable  for  them  to  give  up  the  operation  of  their 
land. 

A  second  class  of  owners  consists  of  those  who  become  land 
holders  through  inheritance  or  purchase.  When  the  title  to 
farm  land  passes  to  heirs,  they  often  arrange  to  have  the  land 
operated  as  a  unit  by  some  renter,  quite  frequently  one  of  their 
own  number.  The  few  who  obtain  land  through  the  foreclosure 
of  mortgages  often  value  the  land  from  the  speculative  point  of 
view.  Many  others  who  purchase  land  are  also  to  be  regarded  as 
speculative  buyers.  Such  land  owners,  awaiting  a  favorable 
turn  in  the  price  of  land,  are  seldom  inclined  to  incur  the  ex- 
pense of  installing  the  managerial  system  and  naturally  prefer 
short-lease  tenants.  "When  corporations,  such  as  coal,  railway, 
gas,  oil,  or  land  improvement  companies,  own  farm  land  its 
cultivation  is  usually  of  incidental  importance  to  them,  even  in 
cases  where  the  land  remains  more  or  less  permanently  in  their 
hands.  A  condition  of  this  kind  is  conducive  either  to  managerial 
or  tenant  cultivation. 

24In  the  United  States  11.4  percent  of  the  owners  of  rented  farms 
owned  two  farms  in  1900;  5.4  percent  owned  three  or  four  farms;  2.3 
percent  owned  five  to  nine  farms ;  and  0.9  percent  owned  ten  or  more 
farms.  See  Census,  1900,  V,  Ixxxviii. 

25A  large  number  of  country  bankers,  for  instance,  are  so-called 
"banker-farmers".  Not  all  of  these  were  farmers,  however,  before  they 
were  bankers.  See  Stewart,  C.  L.,  An  Analysis  of  Rural  Banking  Condi- 
tions in  Illinois,  4,  5- 


415] 


LAND  TENURE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


21 


Perhaps  the  most  numerous  class  of  landlords  is  made  up 
of  those  who  seek  retirement  from  the  farm.28  Many  owners 
leave  the  farm  so  that  the  children  may  start  operating  the  home 
place,  unhampered  by  lack  of  house  room,  and  with  greater 
freedom  to  work  out  their  problems.  It  frequently  happens 
that  the  parents  move  to  town  so  that  the  children  may  be  at 
home  with  them  while  launching  into  their  school,  business  or 
society  careers.  Parental  considerations,  however,  are  often 
of  no  more  influence  than  the  desire  to  get  away  from  the  objec- 
tionable features  of  rural  life,  and  to  get  easier  access  to  the 
institutions  and  facilities  of  the  city.  When  farmers  retire, 
they  usually  rent  their  farms  either  to  a  relative  by  birth  or 
marriage  or  to  a  trusted  farm  hand. 

Part  owners  are  operators  who  hire  land  to  cultivate  in  addi- 
tion to  land  of  their  own  that  they  farm.  Some  statistical  facts 
concerning  part  owners  are  presented  in  the  following  table. 

AVERAGE  ACREAGE  OWNED  AND  HIRED  BY  OWNERS,  PART  OWNERS  AND  TENANTS, 
UNITED  STATES,  IQOO-IQIO.27 


Average  number  of  acres 

Percent- 

age of 

Census 

Operated 
by  part 

Hired  by 
Part           Ten- 

Owned  by 
Part          owners 

partly 
owned 

year 

owners 

owners          ants 

owners        proper 

land 

hired 

1910  .... 

225.0 

in.428          96.2 

II3.628         138.6 

49-S28 

1900 

276.4 

136.8             96.3 

139.6            134.7 

49-5 

20While  it  is  not  correct  to  assume  that  the  number  of  farmers  living 
in  retirement  is  equal  to  the  number  of  rented  farms  whose  owners  do  not 
live  in  the  same  county,  a  reference  to  the  latter  data  may  be  useful  at 
this  point.  In  1900,  of  the  95.5  percent  of  the  rented  farms  for  which 
reports  were  obtained,  all  but  20.3  percent  reported  the  owners  to  be 
residents  of  the  same  counties  as  that  in  which  the  respective  farms  are 
located.  The  owners  of  15.2  percent  of  the  farms  were  located  in  other 
counties  of  the  same  state,  and  in  the  case  of  5.1  percent  of  the  farms 
were  located  in  other  states.  See  Census,  1900,  V,  Ixxxvii. 

No  doubt  there  are  instances  where  the  landlords  living  in  adjoining 
counties  are  closer  to  their  farms  than  some  living  in  the  same  county 
in  which  their  places  are  located.  The  same  thing  doubtless  applies  in  the 
case  of  owners  living  in  other  states.  On  the  other  hand,  the  residence 
of  owners  in  the  same  county  does  not  guarantee  a  close  interest  in 
operations  carried  on  by  their  tenants. 

27Census,  1910,  V,  99  and  1900,  V,  308. 

28Estimated  to  make  the  percentages  identical  in  the  last  column. 


22  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [416 

Though  practically  half  of  the  land  in  the  farms  of  part 
owners  was  hired  the  owned  acreage  was  so  nearly  comparable 
to  that  of  operators  owning  their  entire  farms  that  it  seems 
natural  to  assign  the  part  owners  an  economic  status  even  higher, 
on  the  average,  than  that  of  owners  proper.  It  is  gratifying  to 
note,  therefore,  that  in  spite  of  the  decline  in  the  size  of  partly 
owned  farms,  the  percentage  of  all  land  operated  by  part  owners 
increased  from  14.9  in  1900  to  15.2  in  1910.29  The  percentage 
of  their  land  that  was  improved  was  45.5  in  1900  and  56.9  in 
1910,  as  against  a  percentage  of  50.6  at  the  latter  date  for  the 
land  of  operators  owning  their  entire  farms.30 

Tenancy,  when  practiced  by  part  owners,  seems  to  be  usually 
a  matter  of  choice.  By  renting  additional  land  part  owners 
practically  double  the  scale  of  their  operations  without  requiring 
any  great  increase  in  the  amount  of  money  they  have  invested. 
They  are  limited  in  the  area  from  which  they  may  choose  land  to 
rent,  but  in  most  districts  there  is  usually  enough  land  for 
rent  near  their  places.  Sometimes  they  afford  almost  the  only 
means  an  owner  can  find  to  get  a  piece  of  land  operated  without 
equipping  it  with  buildings.  Part  owners,  therefore,  may  often 
rent  good  land  on  favorable  terms.  On  the  other  hand,  since 
part  owners  may  not  ordinarily  be  expected  to  build  up  the 
fertility  of  the  land  they  hire  as  carefully  as  that  of  the  land 
they  own,  it  is  only  natural  that  some  landlords  prefer  not  to 
rent  land  to  them. 

Often  the  farm  of  a  part  owner  is  the  area  comprised  in  an 
estate  that  has  been  divided  among  heirs.  In  such  cases  the  par- 
tition of  a  farm  at  the  death  of  the  former  owner  destroys  the 
unity  of  ownership  without  destroying  the  unity  of  operation. 

The  large  size  of  the  partly  owned  farms  affords  evidence 
that  some  experienced  farmers  are  in  favor  of  expanding  the 
area  cultivated  in  place  of  intensifying  the  cultivation  of  small 
farms.  This  economy  arises  in  part  from  the  fact  that  the 
building  equipment  of  the  area  owned  by  the  part  owner  does 
service  for  the  hired  area  as  well.  Where  pieces  of  land  are 
found  without  independent  equipment  in  buildings  part  owner- 
ship is  a  form  of  tenure  to  which  resort  is  commonly  had.  A 
tendency  to  reduce  the  xsize  of  holdings  in  districts  of  large-scale 
farming  often  results  in  an  increase  in  the  prominence  of  part 
ownership. 

In  a  number  of  the  Southern  states  the  place  of  colored 

29See  above,  p.  16. 
s°Census,  1910,  V,  97. 


417]  LAND  TENURE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  23 

tenants  is  one  of  great  significance.  In  four  states,  Mississippi, 
South  Carolina,  Alabama  and  Georgia,  over  half  of  the  tenants 
in  1910  were  colored,  and  their  numbers  aggregated  415,947.31 
Ten  years  previously  the  number  of  colored  tenants  in  the  same 
states  was  324,964.  The  white  tenants  in  these  states  were  out- 
numbered by  colored  tenants  nearly  2  to  1  in  1910. 

The  tenants  of  the  Southern  states  must  be  sharply  dis- 
tinguished from  those  in  other  parts  of  the  country.  For  the 
most  part  they  operate  cotton  farms  of  twenty  acres,  are  under 
the  supervision  of  the  owner  of  the  farm,  are  in  debt  for  most 
of  the  one  or  two  hundred  dollars  worth  of  property  they  own, 
and  are  dependent  upon  lien  holders  for  their  subsistence  from 
season  to  season.  In  the  Northwest,  on  the  other  hand,  the  tenant 
is  practically  as  independent  as  if  he  owned  the  land,  owns 
property  worth  thousands  of  dollars,  and  conducts  his  farm  and 
business  operations  entirely  as  suits  him ;  in  the  East  the  tenant 
must  engage  in  highly  intensive  farming ;  and  in  the  newer  West 
he  is  operating  land  recently  taken  up  from  the  public  domain.82 
Tenancy  in  the  South  should  by  no  means  be  confused  with 
tenancy  in  other  parts  of  the  United  States. 

Somewhat  of  an  indication  of  the  economic  status  of  tenants 
is  afforded  by  the  kind  of  basis  on  which  they  pay  rent — whether 
they  pay  a  fixed  amount  of  cash  per  acre,  or  a  share  of  the  pro- 
ducts. The  census  did  not  report  "share-cash"33  tenants  separ- 
ately before  1910,  and  until  that  date  followed  the  practice  of 
including  tenant  farms  whose  basis  of  rental  payment  was  un- 
specified with  the  cash  tenant  farms.  The  following  table  shows 
the  difference  between  the  kinds  of  farm  properties  operated  by 
the  two  major  classes  of  tenants  which,  for  the  sake  of  brevity, 
we  may  call  share  and  cash.34 

31Census,  1910,  V,  210-213. 

32Hibbard,  B.  H.,  in  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  XXV,  710-711. 

33"Share-cash"  tenants  are  those  who  pay  cash  for  part  of  the  land 
rented  by  them  and  pay  a  share  of  the  products  for  part. 

84The  number  of  all  tenants  in  the  United  States  increased  from 
1,024,601  in  1880  to  2,354,676  in  1910.  The  number  of  share  tenants  in- 
creased from  702,244  in  1880  to  1,528,389  in  1910.  The  corresponding 
increase  in  the  number  of  cash  tenants  was  from  322,357  to  826,287.  The 
percentage  of  all  tenants  renting  for  cash  was  31.4  in  1880,  35.2  in  1890, 
37.3  in  1900  and  35.2  in  1910.  See  Census,  1910,  V,  102. 


24 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[418 


THE    AVERAGE    ACREAGE    OF    LAND,    TOTAL    AND    IMPROVED,    AND    THE   VALUE    OF 

VARIOUS   KINDS   OF  PROPERTY  PER  FARM   OF  SHARE  AND   CASH 

TENANTS,  UNITED  STATES,  IQOO-IQIO.35 


c 

•d 

en 

rt    >> 

-^ 

cu 

. 

bo 

en     i-1 
-*-»    cu 

CJ 

o 

£ 

Q 

a 

c 

_C 

c  _c 

"o 
H 

0. 

B 
i—  i 

"o 
H 

rt 

'3 
PQ 

SJ3 
o 
^cu    oi 

3 

B 
i—  i 

Share  and  share-cash 

1910 

93-2 

69.1          $5222 

$3945 

$615 

$  131 

$  530- 

1900 

92.4 

65.0    1  1      2647 

1853 

386 

89 

319 

Cash  and  unspecified 

1910   ||  101.7 

61.3          $5613 

$4139 

$  710          $  146 

$  620 

1900  |  j   102.9 

56.7    1  1      3003 

2IOO 

423 

92 

388 

It  appears  that  the  cash  tenants  have  been  operating  larger 
and  more  valuable  farms  than  the  share  tenants.  The  compara- 
tive difference  in  values,  however,  is  not  a  great  one  per  farm 
and  a  still  smaller  one  per  acre. 

On  the  possibility  of  improvement  in  economic  status  of 
farm  tenants  we  have  little  statistical  evidence.  There  can  be 
no  doubt,  however,  that  there  are  tenants  who  are  not  in  a 
financial  position  to  own  any  farm  land,  though  they  would 
regard  the  buying  of  land  as  a  desirable  and  natural  step  to  take. 
On  the  other  hand  there  are  tenants  who,  though  financially  able 
to  own  farm  land,  do  not  prefer  to  invest  their  capital  in  land. 

Ordinarily  the  members  of  the  first  class  can  choose  between 
operating  land  as  renters,  hiring  themselves  out  as  farm  laborers, 
and  seeking  a  livelihood  in  some  pursuit  other  than  agriculture. 
Allowing  for  the  loss  and  trouble  connected  with  changing  from 
their  present  status,  it  may  be  assumed  that  such  tenants  remain 
in  that  class  because  of  the  favorableness  of  the  terms  they  are 
able  to  make  with  the  landlords.  Some  of  these  tenants  succeed 
in  saving  money.  Others  live  such  a  shiftless,  hand-to-mouth 
existence  that  they  show  little  evidence  of  ever  being  able  to 
make  much  improvement  in  their  condition.  Perhaps  the  most 
striking  examples  of  this  class  of  tenants  are  to  be  found  among^ 
the  poorer  negro  tenants  of  the  South.  Since  the  owners  of  the 
more  valuable  farm  land  prefer  to  rent  to  the  more  capable 

35Census,  1910,  V,  100. 


419]  LAND  TENURE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  25 

tenants,36  those  who  stand  lowest  in  the  scale  of  non-owning 
tenants  will  ordinarily  tend  to  gravitate  toward  the  less  valuable 
lands. 

Those  tenants  who  regard  tenant  operation  as  a  better  means 
than  land  ownership  for  accumulating  money  have  in  their 
number  some  who  are  of  high  economic  standing.  They  are  often 
of  such  a  character  as  to  attract  the  attention  of  owners  desiring 
the  higher  class  of  tenants.  Once  well  established  they  are  likely 
to  prefer  and  to  be  able  to  secure  longer  leases  and  fairly  perman- 
ent tenure.  Tenants  of  this  class  are  found  mainly  in  the  dis- 
tricts where  the  price  of  land  is  high  in  comparison  with  the 
value  of  its  products. 

On  the  whole,  it  seems  that  the  transition  of  which  tenancy 
is  the  middle  stage  has,  for  most  farmers,  been  toward  higher 
rather  than  toward  lower  economic  conditions.37  It  is  the  pre- 
vailing belief,  however,  based  upon  statistics  of  tenant  farms, 
"that  the  stepping-stones  of  tenancy  are  getting  somewhat 
farther  apart  and  the  passage  over  them  to  ownership  beyond 
becoming  correspondingly  more  difficult  of  accomplishment."38 

RELATION  OF  TENURE  TO  FARM  PRACTICE. 

The  tenancy  practiced  by  part  owners  is  renting  in  as  true 

36Taylor,.H.  C.    Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Agricultural  Economics, 

S9-65- 

37A  certain  amount  of  evidence  on  this  problem  is  afforded  by  the 
statistics  on  ages  of  farm  operators  and  home  occupiers.  The  percentage 
of  farmers  who  were  renters  exceeded  50. in  the  two  age  groups  under  35 
in  1890,  1900,  and  1910.  The  older  age-groups  showed  a  constantly  declin- 
ing percentage  of  farmers  who  were  renting,  and  a  corresponding  in- 
crease in  the  percentage  of  farmers  who  were  owning.  The  indication  is, 
therefore,  that  advance  in  age  has  been  associated  with  advance  in  status 
of  tenure.  The  percentage  of  ownership  in  the  younger  age-groups, 
however,  was  less  in  1910  than  in  1900  and  lea's  in  1900  than  in  1890.  It 
seems  that  the  greater  burden  of  the  decline  in  ownership  was  being  borne 
by  the  younger  farmers. 

The  extent  to  which  the  age  of  a  farmer  affects  the  amount  of  mort- 
gage encumbrance  he  carries  on  his  farm  is  not  so  marked  as  the  effect 
of  age  upon  the  tenure  status.  Owners  55  years  old  and  over  have  very 
little  mortgage  encumbrance, —  more  at  the  last  census  than  previously. 
The  age-group  with  the  highest  percentage  of  owners  encumbered  in  1890 
was  that  between  25  and  34,  while  in  1900  and  1910  the  age  group,  35  to  44, 
had  the  highest  percentage,  with  an  increasing  concentration  on  it  in  1910. 
See  Census,  1900,  Part  II,  ccxi ;  1900,  Bulletin  on  Age  of  Farmers,  9,  22. 

38Hibbard,  B.  H.,  in  Annals  of  the  American  Academy,  XL,  29-39. 


26  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [420 

a  sense  as  that  carried  on  by  tenants  proper.  The  part  owners, 
however,  are  usually  more  fixed  to  the  community  and  are  bound 
by  deed  to  a  part  of  the  land  they  operate.  In  the  case  of 
" estates"  regard  for  the  "old  place"  and  for  the  other  heirs 
may  induce  the  heir  in  charge  of  the  operations  to  treat  the  land 
he  rents  as  well  as  that  which  he  owns.  The  expectation  of 
eventual  ownership  of  the  rented  land  is  greater  in  the  case  of 
part  owners  than  in  the  case  of  most  tenants,  and  this  exerts 
an  influence  in  the  direction  of  better  treatment  of  the  rented 
land.  Farming  by  part  owners,  in  such  cases,  differs  little 
from  that  conducted  by  those  owning  all  the  land  they  operate. 

At  the  twelfth  census  farms  were  classified  according  to 
their  principal  sources  of  income,  and  by  various  forms  of  ten- 
ure.39 From  this  investigation  it  appears  that  in  1900  managerial 
operation  was  relatively  most  prominent  in  the  ease  of  farms 
whose  principal  source  of  income  was  fruits,  dairy  produce,  rice, 
sugar,  flowers,  plants,  and  nursery  products.  Tenants  were  rela- 
tively most  prominent  in  the  production  of  vegetables,  tobacco 
and  cotton.  In  the  case  of  hay  and  grain  farms  part  owners  and 
share  tenants  operated  more  than  their  share.  Livestock  farm- 
ing was  carried  on  by  ' '  owners-and-tenants  ",40  by  part  owners 
and  by  owners,  to  a  disproportionately  large  extent. 

It  appears  that  hay  and  grain  farming  was  given  greatest 
relative  emphasis  by  the  share  tenants  and  part  owners;  that 
livestock  raising  was  more  largely  practiced  by  the  owners-and- 
tenants,  owners  proper,  and  part  owners ;  and  that  dairying  was 
carried  on  chiefly  by  the  owners.  The  tenants,  therefore,  have 
been  concentrating  on  the  production  of  staple  products,  man- 
agers have  preferred  the  lines  requiring  great  emphasis  on  super- 
vision of  labor  force,  while  owners  have  been  associated  with  a 
more  highly  diversified  and  capitalized  form  of  farming  industry. 
From  the  point  of  view  of  farm  practice,  tenure  is  an  expression 
of  the  adaptation  of  the  operator  to  the  requirements  of  the  type 
of  farming.  On  the  other  hand,  there  has  doubtless  been  some 
adjustment  of  farm  practice  by  the  operators  to  suit  the  re- 
quirements of  their  form  of  tenure. 

39The  percentage  of  farms  listed  under  each  principal  source  of  in- 
come was  as  follows:  hay  and  grain,  23.0;  vegetables,  2.7;  fruits,  1.4; 
livestock,  27.3;  dairy  produce,  6.2;  tobacco,  1.9;  cotton,  18.7;  rice,  o.l ; 
sugar,  o.i ;  flowers  and  plants,  o.i ;  nursery  products,  less  than  o.i ;  and 
miscellaneous,  18.5.  See  Census,  1900,  V,  liii-lv. 

40"Owners-and-tenants"  refers  to  cases  where  tenants  and  operating 
bwners  combine  their  efforts  in  the  operation  of  farms. 


421]  LAND  TENURE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  27 

Land  makes  demands  upon  farmers  either  for  capital  to  own 
it  or  for  capital  and  skill  to  operate  it.  High  prices  for  the 
land  do  not  in  themselves  induce  tenant-farming,41  unless  the 
purposes  to  which  such  land  may  be  put  are  such  that  tenants 
can  qualify  as  operators.  If  large-scale  production  is  at  a 
premium  on  the  high-priced  land,  then  the  standardization  of 
farming  method  and  the  costliness  of  farm  ownership  may 
encourage  tenant  cultivation.  In  any  case,  financial  and  tech- 
nical qualifications  of  the  tenants  to  carry  on  the  type  of  farming 
to  which  the  land  is  adapted  are  prerequisite  to  the  prevalence 
of  tenancy. 

The  importance  to  the  tenant  of  technical  knowledge  and 
of  capital  goods  is  especially  to  be  noted  when  there  is  a  change 
in  the  type  of  farming  prevailing  in  a  region.  The  introduction 
of  cereal  growing  into  certain  parts  of  the  South  has  caused  a 
temporary  withdrawal  of  tenants  from  operation  there.42  Cereal 
growing,  where  it  is  an  established  feature  of  the  agriculture  of  a 
region,  is  ordinarily  practiced  to  a  high  degree  by  tenants.  As 
the  methods  of  grain  farming  become  widely  known  in  the 
Southern  districts  introducing  it  and  as  investments  in  the 
special  types  of  equipment  become  better  understood,  we  may 
expect  the  same  association  of  tenancy  and  cereal  growing  there 
as  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 

Lack  of  adequate  capital  to  invest  in  the  ownership  of  land 
tends  to  increase  the  supply  of  tenants  when  the  methods  of 
farming  the  land  are  standardized  and  well  known.  Persons  with 
adequate  knowledge  of  farming  method  seek  to  manage,  rent  or 
own  in  part — possibly  under  mortgage — farms  for  the  complete 
and  unencumbered  ownership  of  which  they  lack  sufficient 
capital. 

The  importance  of  the  influence  of  both  these  factors,  the 
lack  of  capital  for  land  purchase  in  increasing  tenancy  and  the 
lack  of  operating  capital  and  efficiency  in  decreasing  tenancy, 
must  continue  to  grow  as  heavier  demands  are  made  for  capital 
and  operating  efficiency.  The  annual  gain  to  the  landlord  from 
unearned  increment  must  constitute  a  diminishing  percentage  of 

41The  price  of  land  and  the  size  of  farms  are  given  considerable 
emphasis  in  the  writings  of  most  of  those  treating  the  subject  of  tenancy. 
See  particularly  Taylor,  H.  C.,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Agricultural 
Economics,  244-250;  and  Hibbard,  B.  H.,  Annals  of  the  American  Academy, 
XL,  29-39,  and  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  XXV,  712-719;  XXVI, 
107-109,  364-369;  XXVII,  483. 

42Community  Service  Week  in  North  Carolina,  44. 


28 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[422 


the  value  of  the  land  and  of  the  total  annual  increase  in  the 
landlord's  wealth.43  Great  emphasis  must,  therefore,  be  placed 
upon  operating  efficiency  in  increasing  farm  incomes.  The 
landlords  may  be  expected  to  apply  more  thorough-going  tests  to 
ascertain  the  farming  ability  of  tenants.  This  will  not  only  tend 
to  hold  tenancy  in  abeyance,  but  will  accompany  a  regime  of 
better  farming  by  those  operating  under  all  forms  of  tenures. 

TENURE  AND  THE  EXPANSIBILITY  OF  THE  FARM  AREA 

Land  tenure  may,  in  a  general  way,  be  regarded  as  affording 
an  expression  of  the  relation  of  the  population  to  the  supply  of 
cultivatable  land.  The  accompanying  table  affords  some  data  on 
this  relation.  From  1850  to  1880  the  acreage  of  improved  land 
in  American  farms  increased  151.9  per  cent,  while  population 
increased  116.3  per  cent.  The  improved  acreage  per  capita  was 
4.9  in  1850  and  5.7  in  1880.  From  1880  to  1910  the  population 
increased  83.4,  while  the  improved  farm  acreage  increased  68.0 

PER  CAPITA  ACREAGE  OF  LAND  IN  FARMS,  AND  PERCENTAGE  OF  INCREASE  OVER 
PRECEDING  CENSUS  RETURNS  IN  POPULATION,  NUMBER  OF  FARMS,  ACREAGE 
OF  FARM  LAND  AND  VALUE  OF  FARM  PROPERTY,  UNITED  STATES, 

iSso-igio.44 


Per  capita 

Percentage  of  increase  over  preceding  census 

acreage  of 

Acreage  of 

Value  of  Farm  Property 

land  in 

land  in 

;>> 

Census 

farms 

o 
i-   M 

farms 

rt 

"O     tn 

c    be 

rt     C 

S.s 

•a 
a 

Year 

"o 

s  1 

"3 

PI 
o 

1  «§ 

"o 

•3 

1       <U 

6  § 

o 
H 

~    g 

tn 

<u 

H 

I"H      IH 
P. 

£ 

ft 

H 

1—1  i* 

CL 

Jl  £ 

3 

1910  

9-6 

5-2 

21.0 

10.9 

4-8 

154 

100.5 

109-5 

68.7 

60.  i 

1900  

.11.0 

5-5 

20.7 

25-7 

34-6 

15-9 

27.1 

25-1 

51-7 

33.2 

1890  

9-9 

5-7 

25.5 

13-9 

16.3 

26.6 

32.0 

30.2 

21.6 

45.4 

1880  

10.7 

5-7 

30.1 

50.7 

31-5 

50.7 

36.2 

37-0 

50.1 

28.2 

1870  

10.6 

4.9 

22.6 

30.1 

O.I 

15-8 

I2.I 

I2.O 

IO.I 

12.9 

1860  

13-0 

5-2 

35-6 

41.1 

38.7 

44-3 

IOI.2 

I03.I 

63-4 

IOO.2 

1850  

12.7 

4.9 

PERCENTAGE  OF  INCREASE  OVER  THIRD  PRECEDING  CENSUS. 


I880-I9IO 
1850-1880 


834 
II6.3 


58.7 
176.7 


63.9 
82.6 


68.0 
151-9 


236.5 
207.0 


241-3 
211.7 


221.2 
168.2 


212.3 
189.0 


43See  below,  pp.  123,  124. 
44Census,  1910,  V,  51,  57. 


423]  LAND  TENURE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  29 

percent  and  the  improved  acreage  per  capita  declined  from  5.7 
to  5.2. 

But  for  an  extraordinary  expansion  in  the  unimproved 
acreage  between  1890  and  1900,  the  acreage  of  all  land  in  farms 
per  capita  would  probably  have  shown  a  tendency  to  decline  after 
1880  similar  to  that  shown  by  the  improved  acreage.  The  ex- 
pansion of  the  farm  area  between  1890  and  1900  was  probably 
due,  in  a  measure,  to  the  belief  on  the  part  of  some  persons  that 
it  was  best  to  get  desirable  new  land  before  it  became  too  late.45 
From  1900  to  1910  the  expansion  of  the  farm  area  was  hardly 
possible  without  resort  to  somewhat  inferior  types  of  soil.  As  a 
consequence  increased  attention  was  paid  to  improving  the 
acreage  already  in  farms.  The  relative  increase  in  the  ratio  of 
improved  land  to  all  farm  land  was  greater  between  1900  and 
1910  than  for  any  decade  ending  after  1880.  That  there  was 
an  increased  demand  for  farm  products  in  comparison  with  the- 
area  supplying  them  is  indicated  by  the  rise  in  price  of  farm 
products.  This  affected  the  profits  of  farming  and  helped 
augment  the  price  of  farm  land.  The  relative  increase  in  the 
value  of  land  and  buildings  per  acre  was  greater  during  the 
decade,  1900  to  1910,  than  during  any  other  census  decade  of 
the  sixty  years. 

The  effect  upon  land  prices  was  probably  greatest  in  the 
case  of  land  producing  those  staple  products  the  area  of  whose 
production  had  previously  been  expanding  more  nearly  in  re- 
sponse to  the  demand  for  the  products.  The  effect  was  not  so 
important,  therefore,  in  the  case  of  cotton  lands,  but  was  very 
pronounced  in  the  case  of  land  producing  the  important  cereals. 

The  relation  of  land  prices  to  tenure  during  the  recent 
decades  can  be  best  examined,  therefore,  in  the  case  of  cereal- 
growing  districts.  That  will  be  done  here  for  the  state  of  Illinois. 

45The  percentage  of  the  land  area  in  farms  in  1910  was  46.2,  1900, 
44.1,  and  1890,  32.7.  More  significance  is  to  be  attached  to  the  smallness 
of  the  increase  between  1900  and  1910,  perhaps,  than  to  the  fact  that  over 
half  of  the  land  had  not  yet  been  included  in  farms. 


CHAPTEE  II 

TENDENCIES  IN  THE  AGRICULTUBAL  ECONOMY  OF  ILLINOIS 

It  is  impossible  to  understand  the  agricultural  economy  of 
a  state  like  Illinois  without  keeping  constantly  in  mind  the 
physical  features  and  soil  conditions  that  give  character  to  the 
state. 

The  surface  of  Illinois,  for  the  most  part,  slopes  gently  from 
the  north  to  the  south,  except  in  the  extreme  Southern  part  of 
the  state  where  a  spur  of  the  Ozark  hills  rises  rather  abruptly 
from  the  plains  to  an  altitude  of  approximately  one  thousand 
feet.  The  altitude  along  the  rivers  in  the  Southern  part  of  the 
state  is  about  three  hundred  feet  above  sea  level,  in  the  Central 
part  between  seven  and  eight  hundred  feet,  and  in  the  Northern 
part  about  one  thousand  feet. 

PHYSIOGRAPHIC  INFLUENCES 

The  state  has  a  variety  of  soils,  as  indicated  by  the  soil 
map.1  Unglaciated  areas  are  to  be  found  in  three  portions  of 
the  state — in  the  Southern  part,  where  the  Ozark  hills  appear  to 
have  obstructed  the  progress  of  the  glaciers ;  in  the  point  of  land 
between  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  rivers;  and  in  the  North- 
western corner  of  the  state.  All  the  rest  of  the  state  has  been 
glaciated  at  least  once,  and  some  sections  were  covered  a  num- 
ber of  times. 

The  profound  influence  of  the  glaciers  upon  Illinois  agri- 
culture was  exerted  through  their  effect  upon  the  topography 
and  to  a  less  extent,  perhaps,  upon  the  quality  of  the  soil.2  The 
difference  in  yields  per  acre  in  the  various  glaciated  districts 
is  considerable,  but  the  difference  in  land  prices  is  much  greater. 
The  unglaciated  regions,  being  more  broken,  are  less  suited  to 

1Hopkins,  C.  G.,  The  Fertility  in  Illinois  Soils,  following  192. 

2The  dominant  soil  type  in  all  but  Southern  Illinois,  is  a  dark 
brown  to  black  silty  loam  underlaid  by  a  yellow  gray,  or  drab  stiff  silty 
loam  subsoil.  Associated  with  it,  and  particularly  in  the  timbered  areas 
along  the  streams,  is  a  yellow  to  yellowish-brown  silty  loam  surface  under- 
laid by  a  yellow  silty  subsoil.  In  Southern  Illinois  the  deposit  of  loess 
over  the  underlying  glacial  materials  is  thin.  The  soil  in  Southern 
Illinois  is  principally  a  gray  silt  loam  underlaid  by  a  stiff  gray  silty  clay. 
See  Census,  1910,  V,  897-898. 

30 


425]  AGRICULTURAL  TENDENCIES  IN  ILLINOIS  31 

cultivation  by  modern  farm  machinery  and  to  hauling  heavy 
loads.  The  glaciated  regions  have  better  water  supply,  and 
suffer  less  change  in  the  fertility  of  the  soil  because  of  erosion.3 
The  extent  of  the  timber  growth  in  the  various  parts  of  the 
state  affords  a  good  index  of  the  general  physiographic  condi- 
tions. The  mere  presence  of  natural  timbers  usually  implies 
that  the  land  is  either  broken  or  swampy.  This  fact  alone  would 
tend  to  cause  the  timber  land  to  be  less  easily  cultivated,  even 
when  cleared.  There  is  the  further  fact  that  timber  operated 
against  the  accumulation  of  the  organic  elements  so  important 
for  the  growing  of  crops.4  This  is  attested  by  the  fact  that 
while  the  productiveness  of  the  timber  land  was  somewhat 
improved  after  it  was  cleared,  the  distinction  between  the  old 
timber  land  and  the  old  prairie  land  still  stands  out  with 
appreciable  sharpness.  Just  what  part  of  the  difference  in  fer- 
tility in  different  sections  is  due  to  the  fact  of  former  timber 
influence  and  what  portion  is  to  be  explained  by  geological 
formation,  is,  of  course,  indeterminate.  The  sharpest  line  of 
demarcation  between  soils  in  Illinois,  when  considered  from  the 
point  of  view  of  productiveness,  is  found,  however,  where  the 
same  line  divides  an  old  timbered  from  an  old  prairie  district, 
and  at  the  same  time  a  district  of  a  later  from  that  of  an  earlier 
glaciation.5  This  line  may  be  roughly  indicated  as  running  from 
East  St.  Louis  to  Shelbyville,  the  seat  of  Shelby  county,  and 

3Mosier,  J.  G.,  Effect  of  Glaciers  on  Illinois  Agriculture,  in  Illinois 
Agriculturist,  June,  1914,  533,  534. 

*Upon  the  withdrawal  of  the  last  glacial  sheet  the  assumption  is  that 
the  grasses  were  first  among  the  vegetable  growths  to  cover  the  land  of 
the  state.  The  area  covered  by  trees,  first  limited  to  the  unglaciated  dis- 
trict, came  to  include  more  and  more  of  the  glaciated  soil.  The  previous 
occupation  of  the  land  by  the  grasses  made  it  more  difficult  for  the  seeds 
of  trees  to  get  into  the  soil,  and  the  fires  which  burnt  the  grass  period- 
ically tended  to  destroy  the  incipient  timber  growth.  The  organic  ele- 
ments which  worked  into  the  soil  as  a  consequence  of  the  decay  of  the 
grasses  are  said  to  have  made  the  soil  still  less  hospitable  to  the  growth 
of  timber.  The  hardier,  scrubbier  types  of  woodland  growth  could  make 
their  way  somewhat  better  through  this  soil  than  the  more  characteristic 
types  of  timber.  As  the  hardier  types  gained  possession  of  the  land,  they 
reduced  the  hostile  elements  and  made  it  possible  for  the  other  types  to 
follow  them.  The  expansion  of  the  timber  over  the  grass  lands  must 
have  been  very  slow  for  it  lacked  much  of  being  complete  when  the  set- 
tlement of  the  prairie  stopped  it. 

5Hall  and  Ingall,  Forest  Conditions  in  Illinois,  195. 


32  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [426 

thence  east  to  the  northwest  corner  of  Clark  county.  South  of 
this  line  the  country  was  once  nearly  all  covered  with  timber, 
while  to  the  north  the  original  forest  was,  for  the  most  part, 
confined  to  the  belts  following  the  principal  waterways.6 

Timber  was  not  only  an  index  and  feature  of  the  physi- 
ography of  the  Illinois  country,  but  was  important  in  its  influ- 
ence upon  early  settlement  and  pioneer  farm  economy.  The 
decided  preference  of  the  early  settlers  for  woodland  is  sup- 
ported by  evidence  in  the  recorded  history  of  nearly  every  Illi- 
nois county.7  For  the  raising  of  hogs  the  mast  of  the  woods 
and  for  the  raising  of  cattle  woodland  shade  and  pasture  were, 
during  most  of  the  year,  superior  to  the  natural  or  cultivated 
products  which  might,  with  satisfactory  drainage,  have  been 
produced  on  the  prairie.  To  be  sure,  a  certain  amount  of  hay 
and  grain  was  necessary  to  tide  the  horses,  hogs  and  cattle  over 
the  winter  season,  and  some  grain  and  hemp  or  flax  was  needed 
to  feed  and  clothe  the  settlers  themselves.  The  amount  of  arable 


7This  is  explained  by  a  number  of  facts.  The  early  settler  had  to 
have  some  land  which  was  higher  than  the  general  level.  This  was  neces- 
sary, first,  to  escape  the  ponds  which  covered  the  flat  lands  during  the 
rainy  seasons,  producing  malaria  and  making  travel  in  and  out  difficult  ; 
and  second,  to  be  safe  from  the  fires  which  swept  the  prairies  in  the  dry 
seasons.  Where  high  spots  were  found,  timber  was  usually  on  them. 
The  better  drained  land  was  ordinarily  more  broken  and  timbered.  The 
woods  afforded  the  source  of  fuel  and  of  materials  for  stockades,  houses, 
barns  and  fences,  the  overland  transportation  of  which,  whether  as  logs 
or  rails,  was  a  difficult  matter,  particularly  in  the  wet  seasons.  The 
woods  were  usually  to  be  found  associated  with  rivers,  springs  and  salt 
licks.  The  rivers  were  often  the  avenues  by  means  of  which  settlers 
pushed  on  and  by  which  they  communicated  with  the  markets  and  post 
offices.  The  springs  afforded  the  source  of  water  for  the  settlers  and 
for  the  animals  they  kept  or  hunted.  The  salt  licks  provided  a  necessary 
article  for  the  household  and  for  the  domestic  animals,  and  of  all  places 
in  the  woods  were  probably  the  most  strategic  for  killing  wild  game. 
Furthermore,  the  surrounding  woods  provided  shelter  from  the  extremes 
of  the  weather  for  both  man  and  beast. 

Among  settlers  for  whom  the  woodland  held  such  a  monopoly  of 
the  indispensable  conditions  of  pioneer  life  it  is  little  wonder  that  a 
prejudice  arose  against  the  open  prairie.  Some  of  this  prejudice  may 
have  been  brought  with  them  from  their  former  homes  farther  East. 
The  kind  of  economic  life  to  which  lack  of  facilities  for  drainage  and 
transportation  subjected  them  would  only  tend  to  strengthen  such 
prejudice. 


427]  AGRICULTURAL  TENDENCIES  IN  ILLINOIS  33 

land  sufficient  to  these  purposes,  however,  was  easily  cleared, 
or  fenced  in  from  a  natural  clearing  in  the  woods  or  from  the 
edge  of  the  prairie.  It  was  the  timber,  nevertheless,  that  was 
the  indispensable  basis  of  the  pioneer  agricultural  economy, 
while  the  prairie,  beyond  that  which  lay  contiguous  to  the  tim- 
ber, afforded  menaces  by  fire  and  by  water,  in  the  shape  of 
disease  and  death.  There  is  little  wonder,  then,  that  the  prairie 
was  looked  upon  by  the  pioneers  as  a  hopeless  waste.8 

In  order  to  sketch  the  development  of  Illinois  we  may 
employ  several  lines  of  census  data. 

POPULATION   AND  AGRICULTURE 

From  the  population  statistics  of  the  Federal  census  and 
from  the  data  of  the  quinquennial  census  conducted  by  the  state 
itself  a  fair  notion  of  the  rate  of  this  development  may  be 
drawn. 

The  population  multiplied  459  times  between  1810  and 
1910.9  The  periods  in  which  the  absolute  growth  in  population 
was  most  marked  were  those  extending  from  1850  to  1870,  and 
from  1890  to  1910.  In  relative  increase  the  decades  prior  to 
1840  took  the  lead,  although  a  remarkable  increase  occurred 
from  1850  to  1860.  The  period  of  least  relative  increase  in  popu- 
lation was  the  one  between  1900  and  1910.  Until  1870  the  rate  of 
increase  in  population  in  Illinois  exceeded  that  of  the  nation  as 
a  whole  during  each  decade.  The  same  thing  was  true  of  the 
decade,  1890  to  1900.  From  1870  to  1890  and  from  1900  to 
1910,  however,  the  rate  of  increase  of  population  fell  below 

8It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  early  settlers  held  the  theory  that  the 
prairie  was  less  fertile  than  the  timber  land,  because  the  prairie  grew 
vegetation  that  was  much  smaller.  Owing  to  the  conditions  confronting 
the  settlers,  however,  this  theory  could  not  have  restrained  them  much 
until  the  improvements  took  place  in  transportation,  in  agricultural 
machinery  and  in  drainage.  When  it  became  possible  to  till  the  land, 
to  produce  extensively  and  to  market  products  other  than  those  which 
could  be  driven  on  foot,  cultivation  of  the  prairies  became  at  once  possible 
and  profitable.  It  is,  of  course,  natural  that  some  farmers  should  have 
insisted  on  clearing  timber  land,  thinking  that  they  would  thus  farm  the 
richest  land,  when  a  vast  area  of  richer  prairie  lay  all  ready  to  be  tiled 
and  broken  up.  But  the  view  that  the  prairies  were  less  fertile  than  the 
timber  land  probably  did  not  restrain  prairie  cultivation  to  any  great 
extent. 

9See  Census,  1910,  I,  24  and  V,  436  for  authority  for  all  statements 
in  this  paragraph. 


34  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [428 

that  of  the  United  States.  The  percentage  of  increase  in  the 
population  of  Illinois  was  less  during  the  decade,  1900  to  1910, 
than  during  any  other  decade  in  the  history  of  the  state.  Taken 
as  a  whole  the  growth  of  population  was  very  rapid,  especially 
until  about  1870. 

It  is  possible  to  determine  the  extent  of  the  agricultural 
population  of  the  state  in  only  a  rough  way.  Statistics  of  occu- 
pations were  taken  in  1820  and  at  each  census  from  1840  to  1910. 
The  table  on  the  next  page  has  been  prepared  from  the  limited 
data  at  hand. 

In  Illinois  in  1820,  and  from  1870  to  1910  the  percentage 
of  population  engaged  at  gainful  occupations  was  below  that  of 
the  entire  country,  rising  steadily,  however,  from  24.7  in  1820 
to  40.7  in  1910. 

The  percentage  of  the  occupied  population  of  Illinois  engaged 
in  agriculture  was  90.9  in  1820,  and  decreased  to  19.0  in  1910. 
The  virtual  absence  of  slaves  in  Illinois  in  1850  and  1860  leaves 
a  greater  comparative  value  in  the  statistics  of  occupations  for 
those  dates  in  the  case  of  Illinois  than  in  the  case  of  the  country 
as  a  whole.  The  decline  in  the  percentage  of  occupied  persons 
who  were  in  agriculture  was  less  abrupt  in  Illinois  between  1860 
and  1870.  This  is  to  be  explained  mostly  by  the  fact  that  the 
number  of  persons  in  Illinois  agriculture  underwent  its  greatest 
decennial  increase  during  that  period.  Up  to  and  including 
1870  a  larger  part  of  the  population  had  been  engaged  in  agri- 
culture in  Illinois  than  in  the  rest  of  the  country.  Between 
1870  and  1880,  however,  the  growth  of  other  industries  in  the 
state  was  so  marked,  and  since  1880,  the  number  engaged  in  agri- 
culture has  undergone  so  little  change  that  from  1880  to  1910 
the  percentage  of  population  devoted  to  agriculture  in  Illinois 
was  less  than  the  corresponding  percentage  for  the  United 
States,  and  was  decreasing  much  more  rapidly. 

The  changes  in  the  population  of  Illinois  from  1890  to  1910 
are  analyzed  in  a  table  of  the  thirteenth  census.10  The  data 
show  that,  while  the  urban  population  has  been  growing  both 
relatively  and  absolutely,  and  while  the  small  town  population 
has  been  growing  absolutely,  the  population  in  strictly  rural 
territory  has  been  both  relatively  and  absolutely  declining.11 

10Census,  1910,  II,  438. 


10Census,  1910,  II,  438. 

"The  percentage  of  the  total  population  of  Illinois  in  urban  territory 
woa  44.8  in  1890,  54.3  in  1900,  and  61.7  in  1910;  in  places  having  2500  or  less, 
12.7  in  1890,  12.6  in  1900  and  12.0  in  1910;  and  in  other  rural  territory, 
42.5  in  1890,  33.2  in  1900,  and  26.4  in  1910. 


was 


429] 


AGRICULTURAL  TENDENCIES  IN  ILLINOIS 


35 


THE  NUMBER  OF  THE  TOTAL  POPULATION,  OF  THOSE  ENGAGED  IN  GAINFUL  OCCU- 
PATIONS AND  OF  THOSE  IN  AGRICULTURE,  ILLINOIS  ;  AND  THE  PERCENTAGE  OF 
TOTAL  POPULATION  OCCUPIED,  AND  OF  OCCUPIED  POPULATION  IN  AGRICUL- 
TURE, UNITED  STATES  AND  ILLINOIS,  l82O,  l84O-I9IO.12 


Percentage  of 

Occupied 

Cen- 

Population 

Number 

Persons 

Population 

population  in 

sus 

in  all 

in  agri- 

occupied 

agriculture 

year 

occupations 

culture13 

United 

Illi- 

United 

Illi- 

States14 

nois 

States1* 

nois 

1910 

5,638,591 

2,296,77816 

444,242 

41-5 

40.7 

32.4 

19-3 

1900 

4,821,550 

i,840,O4O15 

461,015 

38.3 

374 

35-3 

25.6 

1890 

3,826,352 

i,353,55915 

430,134 

36.1 

354 

37-2 

31.8 

1880 

3,077,871 

999,78o15 

436,312 

34-7 

32.5 

44.1 

43-6 

1870 

2,539,891 

742,01  51B 

376,325 

32.4 

29.2 

474 

.50.7 

1860 

i,7H,9Si 

395,93716 

301,893 

26.4 

23-4 

40-4 

5LO 

1850 

851.470 

215,359" 

141,099 

23.2 

25.3 

44-8 

65-5 

1840 

476,183 

I24,2O418 

105,337 

21.8 

26.1 

77-5 

84.8 

1820 

55,i62 

I3,63518 

12,395 

25.8 

24.7 

83.0 

oo.o 

"Statistics  for  each  date  were  obtained  as  follows : 
1910:  Census,  1910,  I,  30-31,  and  IV,  91,  97. 

1900,  1890,  1880  and  1870;  Census,  1900,  Occupations,  Introduction, 
1  (following  xlix)  ;  also  Census,  1000,  Occupations,  124;  1890, 
II,  Population,  304,  314;  and  1880,  Population,  777,  793. 
1870:  Census,  1870,  Population  and  Social  Statistics,  704,  713. 
1860  and  1850 :  Census,  1900,  Occupations,  Introduction,  liii ;  also 

1860,   Population,   104-105,  680,  and  1850,  Ixx-lxxix,  727. 
1840  and  1820:  Census,  1900,  Occupations,  Introduction,  xxx;  also 

1840,  396  and  475,  and  1820,  Sheet  40. 

"Exclusive  of  lumbermen,  raftsmen,  woodchoppers,  apiarists,  fisher- 
men, oystermen,  foresters,  owners  and  managers  of  log  and  timber  camps, 
and  those  in  other  agricultural  and  animal  husbandry  pursuits,  so  far  as 
separately  reported. 

14See  a  table  by  the  author  in  Bogart  and  Thompson :  Readings  in  the 
Economic  History  of  the  United  States,  608. 
15Males  and  females  over  ten  years  of  age. 
16Free  males  and  females  over  fifteen  years  of  age. 
17Free  males  over  fifteen  years  of  age. 
"Males  and  females,  free  and  slave,  all  ages. 


36 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


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431]  AGRICULTURAL  TENDENCIES  IN  ILLINOIS  37 

The  number  of  inhabitants  of  strictly  rural  territory  per  square 
mile  of  the  total  land  area  was  29.1  in  1890  and  24.8  in  1910. 
There  were  16.2  per  cent  more  people  in  the  strictly  rural  terri- 
tory in  1890  than  in  1910.19 

Of  the  thirty-two  million  acres  of  land  in  Illinois  farms 
probably  not  over  two  million  were  taken  up  by  1820.20  During 
the  next  thirty  years  approximately  ten  million  acres  were  added 
to  the  farm  area.  Most  of  the  land  taken  into  Illinois  farms 
during  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  in  the  wooded 
districts  of  the  state.21 

Beginning  with  1850  we  have  United  States  census  data 
on  the  total  and  improved  farm  acreage  and  on  the  number  of 
farms  for  each  census  date. 

The  percentage  of  the  land  area  in  farms  increased  from 
33.6  in  1850  to  91.4  in  1900,  but  decreased  to  90.7  in  1910.22 
The  percentage  of  farm  land  that  was  improved  increased  stead- 
ily from  41.9  in  1850  to  86.2  in  1910. 

Until  1880  the  growth  of  the  area  of  land  in  farms  was  rapid, 
the  total  increase  during  the  period,  1850  to  1880,  being  163.1 
per  cent.  During  the  thirty  years  between  1880  and  1910  the 
area  of  land  in  farms  increased  only  2.7  per  cent,  and  actually 
declined  during  two  decades.  The  acreage  of  improved  land 
increased  418.2  per  cent  between  1850  and  1880,  and  only  7.4 
per  cent  from  1880  to  1910.  The  farms  were  decreasing  in  aver- 
age size  from  1850  to  1880,  but  have  been  increasing  somewhat 
since  1880.23 

The  year,  1880,  therefore,  stands  as  the  turning  point  in 
the  direction  in  which  the  average  acreage  of  farms  was  moving. 

19See  below,  pp.  113-116. 

20In  American  State  Papers,  Public  Lands,  Vol.  Ill,  533,  it  appears  that 
the  five  land  agencies  in  Illinois,  located  at  Shawneetown,  Kaskaskia, 
Edwardsville,  Palestine,  and  Vandalia,  had  reported  to  October  i,  1821, 
as  follows : 

Lands  surveyed I3,799,O4O  acres 

Reservations — private  claims  529,046  acres 

Amount  sold  1,458,992  acres 

Unsold   12,160,992  acres 

21See  below,  p.  43. 

22Census,  1910,  V,  69;  VI,  412,  413. 

23To  analyze  these  changes  in  greater  detail,  reference  may  be  had  to 
the  Census,  1910,  VI,  415;  1890,  Agriculture,  118;  and  1880,  Agriculture, 
26,  27.  Such  an  analysis  will  show  that  from  1880  to  1910  the  percentage 
of  farms  under  20  acres  in  size  increased  from  4.9  to  8.0;  those  between 


38 


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AGRICULTURAL  TENDENCIES  IN  ILLINOIS 


39 


It  also  marks  the  end  of  the  large  relative  decennial  increases 
in  the  total  and  improved  farm  acreages,  in  the  number  of 
farms  and  in  the  number  of  persons  engaged  in  agriculture. 
Until  1880  the  changes  in  Illinois  agriculture  were  mainly  in  the 
area  of  farm  land  and  the  number  of  farms  and  farmers ;  since 
1880  the  greater  changes  have  been  in  productions  and  values. 

THE  VALUE  OF  FARM  PROPERTY 

To  illustrate  the  tendencies  in  the  elements  which  went  to 
make  up  the  values  in  farm  properties,  the  following  table  has 
been  prepared. 

AVERAGE  VALUE   PER  ACRE   OF  ALL   FARM   PROPERTY,   AND   OF   THE  VARIOUS 
ELEMENTS  OF  FARM  PROPERTY,  ILLINOIS, 


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96.5 

$I08.32 

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$2.27 

65.7 

$9-49 

60.6 

107.9 

1900    .... 

61.12 

26.2 

53.84 

30.0 

1-37 

21.2 

5-91 

O.2 

91.2 

1890    .... 

48.45 

30.5 

41.41 

29.9 

1.13 

5-6 

5-92 

41.6 

92-3 

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37.12 

8.7 

31.87 

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4.18 

9-7 

106.9 

1870"  .. 

34.15 

43-2 

28.45 

45-4 

1.07 

30-5 

4.63 

33-4 

II7-3 

1860   .... 

23.85 

126.5 

19.56 

144.8 

0.82 

54-7 

3-47 

72.6 

IOO.O 

1850   .... 

10.53 



7-49 

0.53 



2.OI 



IOI.O 

20  and  loo  acres  declined  from  47.9  to  36.2;  those  between  100  and  500 
acres  increased  from  45.6  to  54.9,  and  those  over  500  acres  declined  from 
1.6  to  0.8.  In  1910  approximately  one-third  of  the  farms  had  between 
100  and  175  acres. 

24Census,  1910,  VI,  413. 

25Land  and  improvements,  except  buildings:  1910,  $95.02;  1900,  $46.17; 
percentage  of  increase,  104.3. 

Buildings  alone:   1910,  $13.30;  1900,  $6.67;  percentage  of  increase, 
70.6. 

26The  index  numbers  presented  here  follow  the  Falkner  series  from 
1860  to  1900.  A  number  for  1850  is  supplied  from  the  calculations  of 
G.  H.  Knibbs  (quoted  by  Irving  Fisher).  A  ratio  of  comparison  between 
the  Falkner  series  and  that  used  in  the  investigation  of  the  United  States 
Department  of  Labor  was  derived  for  1890  and  1900  and  a  number  as  of 
the  Falkner  series  calculated  for  1910.  (See  Fisher,  Irving:  Why  the 
Dollar  is  Shrinking,  150-163 ;  Aldrich  Report  on  Wholesale  Prices,  Wages, 
and  Transportation;  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Whole- 
sale Prices,  1890  to  1912). 

"Computed  gold  values,  being  80  per  cent  of  the  currency  values 
•reported. 


40  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [434 

The  data  indicate  a  persistent  rise  in  the  value  per  acre 
of  all  the  properties.  The  upward  movement  may  have  been 
promoted  during  the  decades,  1860  to  1870  and  1900  to  1910, 
by  the  fall  in  the  purchasing  power  of  money,  estimated  at  17.3 
and  18.3  per  cent  respectively.  The  upward  trend  of  farm  value, 
however,  was  much  more  rapid  than  that  of  the  general  price 
level.  During  the  period,  1870  to  1900,  farm  property  values 
increased  in  spite  of  the  fall  of  22.3  per  cent  in  the  general  price 
level. 

The  largest  decennial  increments  of  value  in  the  case  of  each 
item  of  property  took  place  between  1900  and  1910,  and  the 
percentages  of  increase  during  that  decade,  even  after  allowance 
is  made  for  the  rise  in  the  general  price  level,  were  greater  than 
those  of  any  other  decade  since  1860.  In  both  absolute  and  rela- 
tive increase  in  the  case  of  each  item  the  decennium,  1870  to 
1880,  stands  lowest  among  the  decades.  During  the  period,  1870 
to  1890,  the  increases  in  value  were  small  compared  with  those 
characterizing  similar  periods  preceding  and  following  it.  Dur- 
ing the  thirty-year  period,  1850  to  1880,  the  increase  in  the  value 
of  land  and  buildings  exceeded  that  which  took  place  between 
1880  and  1910,  while  the  increase  in  the  value  of  implements 
and  machinery  and  of  live  stock  was  greater  during  the  latter 
period.  During  the  entire  sixty  years  there  was  an  increase  in 
the  value  of  all  farm  property  per  acre  amounting  to  1040  per 
cent.  The  increase  in  the  case  of  each  item  of  property  was  as 
follows:  land  and  buildings,  1256  per  cent;  implements  and 
machinery,  328 ;  and  live  stock,  372. 

The  rate  of  increase  in  the  value  of  farm  property  seems  to 
have  been  accelerated  about  1880  and  again  about  1900.  This 
was  true  in  the  case  of  land  more  markedly  than  in  the- 
case  of  other  kinds  of  farm  property. 

No  less  significant,  perhaps,  is  the  change  in  the  relative 
prominence  of  the  different  forms  of  farm  property  in  Illinois. 
The  prominence  of  implements  and  machinery  and  of  live  stock 
as  measured  by  their  share  in  the  total  value  of  all  farm  prop- 
erty was  two  and  a  half  times  greater  in  1850  than  in  1910.28 
The  part  taken  by  the  value  of  the  land,  however,  rose  from 
three-fourths  in  1850  to  nine-tenths  in  1910. 

28Census,  1910,  V,  93. 


435]  AGRICULTURAL  TENDENCIES  IN  ILLINOIS  41 

SOME   CHANGES  IN  FARM  PRACTICE 

A  general  notion  of  the  character  of  the  farming  practice 
in  Illinois  may  be  derived  from  the  United  States  census  reports. 
It  is  not  possible,  however,  to  make  thorough-going  comparisons 
with  conditions  prior  to  1880  because  of  the  absence  of  data  on 
crop  acreages  before  the  tenth  census.  Production  statistics  of 
one  kind  or  another  are  provided  as  early  as  1840.  The  data 
on  land  in  farms  began  with  1850  and  it  will  be  simpler,  there- 
fore, to  limit  the  comparisons  in  most  cases  to  the  dates,  1850 
and  1910. 

A  few  comparisons  based  on  an  equal  area  of  farm  land29 
will  suffice  to  show  the  main  changes  that  have  taken  place  with 
respect  to  some  features  of  Illinois  agriculture. 

The  number  of  cattle  remained  almost  exactly  the  same.  The 
number  of  dairy  cattle,  however,  increased  about  25  per  cent. 
The  number  of  horses  doubled,  and  the  number  of  mules,  asses 
and  burros  increased  fourfold.  The  number  of  swine  remained 
about  constant,  while  the  number  of  sheep  declined  in  1910  to 
less  than  half  the  number  reported  for  1850. 

The  production  of  butter  on  farms  increased  between  1850 
and  1880,  and,  though  less  in  1910  than  in  1880,  was  40  per  cent 
greater  in  1910  than  in  1850.  Cheese  production  on  farms, 
while  occupying  a  considerable  place  in  1850,  had  almost  disap- 
peared in  1910.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  maple  sugar.  The 
production  of  tobacco  and  of  wool  was  greater  in  1880  than  in 
1850,  but  the  figures  for  1910  were  smaller  than  those  employed 
for  either  of  the  other  dates.  The  production  of  Irish  potatoes 
increased  nearly  once  again  during  the  sixty  year  period. 

All  of  the  cereals  except  barley  had  larger  aggregate  pro- 
ductions in  Illinois  in  1910  than  in  1850.30  The  increase  in  the 
production  of  oats  and  rye  during  the  sixty  years  was  relatively 
greater  than  the  increase  in  the  area  of  all  farm  land,  but  was 
less  than  the  increase  in  the  area  of  improved  land.  The  increase 
in  the  production  of  buckwheat  was  a  little  less  than  twice  as 
great  as  that  of  the  improved  acreage.  The  corn  and  wheat  pro- 

29The  basis  employed  here  includes  both  improved  and  unimproved 
land.  Were  only  improved  farm  land  considered,  the  figures  for  1850 
would  be  multiplied  by  2.40,  those  for  1880  by  1.21,  and  those  for  1910 
by  1.16. 

80Census,  1910,  VI,  446;  1900,  VI,  62-93. 


42  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [436 

duction  underwent  a  most  phenomenal  growth,  increasing  nearly 
three  times  as  rapidly  as  the  area  of  improved  land.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  cereals  have  been  occupying  an  increasingly  prominent 
place  in  Illinois  agriculture. 

The  relative  prominence  of  the  different  crops  can  be 
measured  for  the  dates  from  1840  to  1870  only  on  the  basis 
of  production.  Beginning  with  1880,  however,  the  census 
reports  show  the  number  of  acres  devoted  to  the  various  crops. 

The  percentage  of  improved  land  devoted  to  hay  and  forage 
decreased  between  1889  and  1909,  and  the  percentage  of 
improved  land  devoted  to  other  crops  decreased  from  11.3  in 
1899  to  9.2  in  1909.31  The  percentage  of  improved  land  occu- 
pied by  cereal  crops  in  Illinois  in  1879  was  exceeded  by  the  per- 
centage in  Nebraska,  Minnesota,  and  Iowa;  in  1889  by  North 
Dakota  and  Minnesota;  in  1899,  by  Nebraska  and  Minnesota; 
but  in  1909  the  percentage  of  improved  land  devoted  to  cereals 
in  Illinois  exceeded  that  of  any  other  state. 

Though  data  based  on  acreage  are  lacking  for  the  period 
preceding  the  tenth  census  the  statistics  of  production  already 
cited  seem  to  confirm  the  impression  that  the  concentration  on 
cereal-farming  in  Illinois  received  its  main  impetus  about  1880. 
Up  to  that  time  the  cereal  productions  had  grown  at  a  slower 
pace  than  that  with  which  the  improved  acreage  had  expanded. 
From  1880  on,  however,  both  acreages  and  productions  of  cereal 
crops  have  grown  faster  than  the  corresponding  increase  in  the 
area  of  improved  farm  land. 

A  strong  factor  underlying  the  change  in  the  direction  and 
degree  of  agricultural  tendencies  in  Illinois  about  1880  is  the 
increased  cost  of  adding  land  to  the  farm  area  of  the  United 
States.  The  result  was  an  increasing  pressure  and  premium  on 
the  food-producing  land  of  the  country.  The  effect  is  seen  in 
the  acceleration  given  to  the  rise  in  farm  property  values  and 
in  the  concentration  on  grain  production  on  lands  adapted  to 
that  branch  of  agriculture. 

"Census,  1910,  V,  554,  556. 


CHAPTER  III 
CHANGES  IN  LAND  TENUEE  IN  ILLINOIS 

The  early  agricultural  economy  described  in  the  previous 
chapter  may  be  regarded  as  one  in  which  there  existed  a  heavy 
dependence  upon  timber.  As  late  as  1850  possibly  45  per  cent 
of  the  land  in  farms  was  "woodland".1  By  1870  the  percentage 
of  farm  land  classed  as  woodland  had  dropped  to  20,  by  1880 
to  less  than  16,  and  by  1910,  to  10.2  Although  timber  deter- 
mined the  desirability  of  a  district  for  occupancy  by  pioneers, 
it  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  more  or  less  in  the  way,  except  that 
a  small  amount  is  desirable  for  use  as  shade,  ornament  and 
source  of  wood  for  farm  purposes. 

The  days  when  the  farming  of  the  state  was  based  upon 
woodland  must  have  been  characterized  by  a  very  small  amount 
of  tenant  farming.  Land  was  then  plentiful  not  only  in  other 
parts  of  the  continent,  but  even  within  the  state  itself.  The 
land  was  taken  up  pretty  generally  by  heads  of  families  seeking 
to  establish  farm  homes.  Some  renting  was  carried  on  in  the 

JIn  1850  58.1  per  cent  of  the  farm  land  of  Illinois  was  "unimproved". 
Certainly  as  much  as  three-fourths  of  this  unimproved  land  was  "wood- 
land". The  percentage  of  unimproved  land  classified  as  woodland  in 
1870  was  77.7,  in  1880,  89.1  and  in  1910,  70.7.  The  absolute  figures  were 
as  follows : 

Acreages  1910  1880  1870 

Woodland  3,147,879        4,935,575        5,o6i,578 

Other  unimproved  1,326,735          622,916        1,491,331 

Total  unimproved  4,474,614        5,558,491        6,552,909 

Census,  1910,  V,  77;  and  1880,  Agriculture,  3,  n. 
2The  original  timbered  area  of  the  state  is  said  to  have  comprised 
about  30  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area,  or  about  10  or  n  million  acres. 
At  least  4r/2  or  5  million  acres  of  timber  land  were  in  farms  in  1850.  In 
1910  about  3  million  acres  of  the  old  timber  land  were  still  classed  as 
farm  land,  and  at  least  A?/*  million  more  of  the  old  timber  acreage  must 
have  been  chiefly  in  the  part  called  "improved",  while  the  part  of  the  old 
timber  area  in  farms  probably  rose  from  about  half  in  1850  to  three- 
fourths  in  1910.  At  the  latter  date  a  large  proportion  of  it  had  been 
cleared  and  converted  into  "improved"  land. 

A3 


44  LAND   TENURE   IN   ILLINOIS  [438 

case  of  tracts  owned  by  non-residents,  but  under  the  circum- 
stances the  rents  charged  were  usually  very  small.3 

TENURE  STATISTICS  FOR  THE  STATE  AS  A  WHOLE 

The  census  of  1880  showed  the  number  of  tenant  farms  in 
Illinois  to  be  larger  than  in  any  other  state  of  the  Union,  and 
considerable  capital  was  made  of  the  "eighty  thousand  tenants"4 
then  operating  Illinois  farms.  In  1910,  Illinois  had  104,379 
tenant  farms,  although  her  rank  among  the  states  in  this  respect 
had  sunk  to  eighth.5  Texas,  with  219,575  tenant  farms,  held  first 
rank.  At  that  date  Illinois  was  second  in  the  number  of  white 
tenants,  having  103,761  against  170,970  in  the  state  of  Texas.6 
Illinois  stood  eleventh  in  the  percentage  of  all  farms  operated 
by  tenants  both  in  1880  and  in  1910.T  The  percentage  in  Illinois 
in  1910  was  41.4,  while  in  Mississippi,  where  the  percentage  was 
highest,  it  was  66.1.  In  the  percentage  of  tenancy  among  white 
farmers,  Illinois  with  41.4  ranked  sixth  in  1910,  Oklahoma  with 
55.8  holding  first  rank.8  In  the  farm  acreage  hired  in  1910, 
Illinois  stood  third  with  51.0  per  cent.9  The  percentage  in 
Delaware  was  52.8  and  in  Oklahoma  exceeded  60. 

The  table  on  the  following  page  summarizes  for  the  state 
as  a  whole  the  available  statistics  on  farm  tenure. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  number  of  farms  decreased 
between  1880  and  1910,  while  the  farm  acreage  increased.  The 
increase  in  the  average  size  of  farms  was  from  123.8  in  1880  to 

8See  Buck,  S.  J. :  Pioneer  Letters  of  Gersham  Flagg,  35,  40,  46 ; 
Sheftel,  Yetta,  The  Settlement  of  the  Military  Tract,  Chapters  I  and  II 
(in  manuscript)  ;  Gerhard,  Fred.,  Illinois  as  It  Is,  404. 

The  rents  were  not  low,  because  of  the  relative  inferiority  of  the 
lands  first  taken  up.  As  Walker  points  out,  the  lands  first  taken  up, 
while  now  known  to  be  chemically  and  otherwise  inferior,  were  then 
economically  superior.  It  was  only  when  timber  farm  economy  gave 
way  to  prairie  farm  economy  that  this  economic  superiority  of  the  lands 
earliest  occupied  was  lost. 

*North  American  Review:  CXLII,  52-67,  153-158,  246-253,  387-401. 

BIn  1890  the  number  of  tenants  in  Illinois  was  the  third  largest  among 
the  states,  and  in  1900  it  was  fifth  in  order. 

6The  same  order  held  also  in  1900,  the  only  other  date  at  which  white 
and  colored  tenants  were  reported  separately. 

7In  1890  the  rank  of  Illinois  was  tenth,  and  in  1900,  thirteenth. 

8In  1900  a  similar  comparison  shows  the  rank  of  Illinois  as  eleventh. 

9In  1900  only  Delaware  had  a  larger  percentage  of  her  farm  lands 
rated  under  lease  than  Illinois.  See  above,  p.  17,  note  20. 


439] 


CHANGES  IN  TENUEE 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS,  iSSo-IQIO. 


45 


Number  of  farms10 
Total  

1910 
251,872 

I9OO 
264.151 

1890 
240,681 

1880 

255  741 

Operated  by 
Owners  and  part  owners.... 
Owners    proper  

145,107 
107,300 

158,503 
124,128 

J         1 

f     1 

Part  owners  

37,807 

34,375 

1   I58.84811  | 

1  175,497"  I 

Managers  

2,386 

1,950 

Tenants  

104,379 

103,698 

81,833" 

80,244" 

Percentage  of  farms 
Operated  by 
Tenants  

41.44 

39.26 

s 

34.00 

31.38 

Owners  and  part  owners- 
Owners    proper 

57-61 
42.60 

6O.OO 
46.90 

J        1 

f     1 

Part  owners  

15.01 

I3.OI 

1      66.00     f 

1     68.62    [ 

Managers  

0.95 

0.74 

J 

I 

Number  of  acres  in  farms12 
Total  

32,522,937 

32,794,728 

v.                -* 
30,498,277 

V.                          J 

31,673,645 

Operated  by 
Managers  

15,198,315 

17,506,064 

Tenants 
Owners  and  part  owners  
Owners  proper18  

I4,I77,4H 
17,787,063 
12,208,930 

12,668,748 
19,671,602 
14,758,439 

— 

— 

Part  owners  

5,578,1  3314 

4,913,163 

Hired  by  part  owners  

2,414,44s1* 

2,165,538 

Owned  by  part  owners  
Hired  by  tenants  and 
part  owners  

2,989,38514 
16,591,859 

2,747,625 
14  834  286 

.... 

— 

Owned  by  owners  proper 
and  part  owners  

558,463 

4.C4.  -}j8 

Percentage  of  farm  acres 
Operated  by 
Managers  

1.72 

1.  3Q 

Tenants  

43.59 

38.63 

Owners  and  part  owners  
Owners  proper..  .  . 

54-69 
37-54 

59.98 

4^  OO 

.... 

— 

Part  owners 
Hired  by  part  owners  
Owned  by  part  owners  
Hired  by  tenants  and 
part  owners  

17.15 
7.42 

9-73 
51.01 

14,98 
6.60 
8.38 

4C  2^ 

.... 

-- 

Owned  by  owners  and 
part  owners.... 

47.27 

t;ri8 

.... 

"Census,  1910,  VI,  413. 

11  Part   owners   and  managers  were  not  separately  classified  in   the 


46  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [440 

129.1  in  1910.15  The  number  of  tenant  farms  increased  from 
80,244  to  104,379,  while  the  number  of  farms  operated  by  owners, 
part  owners  and  managers,  decreased  from  175,479  to  147,493.16 
The  percentage  of  all  farms  operated  by  tenants  rose  from  31.38 
in  1880  to  41.44  in  1910.  The  percentage  of  the  farm  acreage 
operated  by  tenants  proper  was  43.59  in  1910,  while  that  hired 
by  part  owners  was  7.42.  The  percentage  of  farm  land  operated 
under  lease  in  1910  was,  therefore,  51.01. 

The  following  table  will  show  more  definitely  how  the 
changes  in  farm  and  land  tenure  varied  from  decade  to  decade. 

It  appears  that  operation  by  owners  decreased  while 
operation  by  tenants  increased  during  each  decennial  period. 
Between  1880  and  1890  the  change  lay  in  a  decline  in  the  num- 
ber of  owners  rather  than  in  an  increase  in  the  number  of 
tenants.  During  the  decade,  1890  to  1900,  the  reverse  was  the 
case.  The  number  of  farms  operated  by  owners  remained  prac- 
tically the  same,  while  the  number  operated  by  tenants  under- 
went a  very  large  increase.  During  the  decade,  1900  to  1910, 

reports  for  these  dates,  and  were  included  in  most  cases,  perhaps,  with 
owners  rather  than  with  tenants. 

12Census,  1910,  VI,  412,  414;  1900,  V,  308. 

13Author's  calculation. 

14Unpublished  data  were  received  from  the  census  bureau  and 
modified  to  repair  the  omission  of  data  from  Carroll,  Lee  and  Massac 
counties.  The  percentage  of  the  land  in  the  farms  of  part  owners  oper- 
ated by  them  under  lease  and  under  deed  was  assumed  to  be  the  same  as 
the  corresponding  percentages  in  the  other  99  counties  of  the  state. 

15See  below,  p.  87. 

16The  number  of  persons  in  agriculture  in  Illinois  (See  above,  p.  35) 
exceeded  the  number  of  farms  by  180,571  in  1880,  189,453  i°  1890,  196,863 
in  1900  and  192,370  in  1910.  For  each  10,000  persons  in  Illinois  agriculture 
there  were  4139  of  these  persons  without  tenure  in  1880,  4405  in  1890, 
4271  in  1900  and  4334  in  1910.  In  a  similar  number  there  were  1839  ten- 
ants in  1880,  1902  in  1890,  2240  in  1900  and  2350  in  1910.  Likewise  there 
were  4022  owners  in  1880,  3693  in  1890,  3483  in  1900  and  3320  in  1910.  In 
1900  there  were  746  part  owners  and  42  managers  for  each  10,000  persons 
engaged  in  agriculture  in  the  state.  In  1910  the  figures  were  851  and  54, 
respectively. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  owners  were  the  only  persons  in 
Illinois  agriculture  to  decrease  in  relative  numbers.  Of  the  remaining 
classes,  the  ranks  of  the  tenants  received  the  largest  relative  number 
of  accessions. 


441] 


CHANGES   IN   TENURE 


47 


the  number  of  tenant  farms  remained  practically  the  same, 
while  there  was  a  sharp  decline  in  the  number  of  farms  operated 
by  owners. 

Most  of  the  increase  of  31.8  per  cent  in  the  relative  prom- 
inence of  tenant  operators  took  place  during  the  decade,  1890 
to  1900,  while  the  decennium,  1900  to  1910,  was  characterized 
by  the  smallest  increase  of  any  decade  since  1880. 

When,  however,  the  change  in  tenancy  is  expressed  in  terms 
of  acreages,  it  is  seen  that  the  increase  in  the  hiring  of  land 
between  1900  and  1910  was  not  so  small.  The  number  of  acres 
hired  increased  1,757,573,  12.7  per  cent  of  the  hired  acreage 
in  1900.  There  was  a  decline  of  550,176  in  the  the  total  farm 
acreage,  so  that  the  number  of  acres  operated  by  their  owners 
decreased  2,307,749,  or  13.2  per  cent. 

The  statistics  usually  employed — those  based  on  the  number 
of  farms — indicate  that  the  percentage  of  tenancy  was  39.3  in 

PERCENTAGE  OF  CHANGE  IN  THE  ABSOLUTE  NUMBER  AND  IN  THE   NUMBER  PER 
ICO  OF  FARM  OPERATORS,  AND  OF  FARM  ACRES  OPERATED  BY  VARIOUS 
KINDS    OF   OPERATORS,   ILLINOIS, 


Basis  and  item 

Direction  and  percentage  of  change 

1880  — 
1910 

1900  — 
1910 

1890— 
1900 

1880— 
1890 

Absolute  number 
Farm  operators 
Owners18   

—  16.0 

+30.1 

-8-5 
+0.6 

—13-2 
+12.7 

-3-6 

+5-3 

—  ii.S 

+  12.8 

—  0.2 
+26.7 

—9-5 

+2.O 

Tenants               

Farm  acres 
Deedholders19 

Lessees20                                 

Number  per  1000 
Farm  operators 
Owners18 

—14.7 
+31-8 

—8.0 
+15-6 

3.8 

Tenants    

+8.3 

Farm  acres 
Deedholders19 

Lessees20    .. 

17Based  on  data,  above,  p.  45. 

18Includes  owners  proper,  part  owners  and  managers. 
"Includes  land  operated  under  deed  by  part  owners  and  by  owners 
proper. 

20Includes  land  operated  under  lease  by  part  owners  and  by  tenants. 


48  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [442 

1900,  and  41.4  in  1910,  a  relative  increase  of  5.3  per  cent.  The 
statistics  based  on  acreage  indicate  that  the  percentage  of  tenancy 
in  1900  was  45.2,  and  in  1910,  51.0.  Basing  the  statistics  on 
acreage  raises  the  percentage  of  tenancy  for  1900  by  over  one- 
fourth,  that  of  1910  by  nearly  one-fourth,  and  multiplies  the  rate 
of  increase  in  tenancy  between  1900  and  1910  by  2.4. 

The  farms  of  tenants  increased  11.2  per  cent  in  size  and 
0.6  in  number  between  1900  and  1910,  embracing  38.63  per  cent 
of  the  farm  acreage  in  1900  and  43.59  per  cent  in  1910.  The 
farms  of  part  owners  increased  in  number  from  34,375  in  1900 
to  37,807  in  1910,  or  10  per  cent.  The  hired  acreage  in  the  aver- 
age partly-owned  farm  in  1900  was  62.99  and  in  1910,  63.86,  an 
increase  of  1.4  per  cent  during  the  decade.  The  part  owners 
hired  6.6  per  cent  of  the  farm  land  of  the  state  in  1900  and  7.4 
per  cent  in  1910,  a  relative  increase  of  one-eighth.  The  percentage 
of  the  farm  acreage  owned  by  part  owners  increased  from  8.4 
to  9.7  between  1900  and  1910,  while  the  percentage  owned  by 
owners  proper  fell  from  45.0  to  37.5.  Although  the  farms  of 
owners  proper  were  below  the  average  in  size  in  1900,  having  but 
118.9  acres  on  the  average,  they  lost  5.1  acres  per  farm  between 
1900  and  1910.21 

The  increase  in  tenancy  during  the  last  decade  was  due  in 
large  measure  to  the  growth  in  the  average  size  of  the  areas 
rented  by  tenants  and  part  owners,  accompanied  by  a  falling  off 
in  the  size  of  the  areas  operated  by  the  owners. 

STATISTICS   OF   FARM   TENURE   BY    COUNTIES 

A  map  showing  by  dots  the  number  of  farms  operated  by 
tenants  in  the  United  States  in  191022  reveals  the  fact  that  the 
density  of  tenant  farms  in  Illinois  is  greater  than  in  any  other 
area  of  equal  size  which  does  not  include  territory  north  of  Ten- 
nessee or  east  of  the  line  bisecting  the  states  from  North  Dakota 
to  Texas.  Within  the  boundaries  of  Illinois  the  tenant  farms 
seem  to  be  pretty  uniformly  distributed,  except  for  the  territory 
between  the  Kaskaskia  and  Wabash  rivers.  A  tendency  towards 
clusters  is  found  around  East  St.  Louis  and  Chicago,  while  the 
density  of  tenants  seems  to  be  somewhat  greater  in  the  area 
between  those  two  cities. 

Another  map  showing  by  shaded  areas  the  percentage  of 
farms  operated  by  tenants  in  every  county  in  the  United  States 
is  published  by  the  United  States  census.23  Naturally  such  a 

21  See  below,  p.  87. 

22Census,  1910,  V,  second  map  following  98. 


443]  CHANGES  IN  TENURE  49 

map  shows  much  less  uniformity  than  the  map  employing  the 
dot  system.  This  is  due  to  differences  in  the  size  of  farms  in 
various  sections.  The  states  whose  appearance  is  most  different 
in  the  two  maps  are,  perhaps,  Oklahoma,  Iowa,  and  Illinois.  In 
each  of  these  states  differences  in  the  percentage  of  tenant  farms 
from  one  section  to  another  are  very  striking. 

To  trace  the  sectional  differences  in  the  percentage  of  tenant 
farms  in  Illinois  a  series  of  maps  is  presented  herewith.24 

In  1880  the  percentage  of  Illinois  farms  operated  by  tenants 
was  31.38.  Only  one  county,  Logan,  had  a  percentage  greater 
than  50.  In  Edwards  county  the  percentage  was  14.5.  Of  the 
remaining  100  counties,  50  had  percentages  between  25.0  and 
35.0.  These  were  located  largely  in  the  Northern  and  Western 
parts  of  the  state.  The  28  counties  having  percentages  above 
35.0  were  clustered  in  the  Central  part  of  the  state  and  in  the 
old  ''American  bottom"  district.25  The  counties  having  per- 
centages below  25  were  confined  to  the  Southern  part  of  the 
state. 

In  1890  the  percentage  of  tenant  farms  in  the  state  was 
34.00.  Ford  county  took  the  lead  with  a  percentage  of  53.7. 
Edwards  county  had  the  lowest  percentage,  16.0.  There  were 
45  counties  having  more  than  35.0  per  cent  of  their  farms  oper- 
ated by  tenants,  against  28  counties  in  1880.  The  counties  with 
the  highest  percentages  were  in  the  East  Central  part  of  the 
state.  Southern  counties  showed  little  change  from  the  small 
percentages  they  had  ten  years  before. 

In  1900  the  percentage  of  farms  operated  by  tenants  was 
39.26.  There  were  68  counties  having  more  than  35.0  per  cent 
of  their  farms  operated  by  tenants,  and  of  these  26  had  per- 
centages exceeding  45.0.  These  counties  were  located  in  the 
East  Central  part  of  the  state.  The  "Military  tract"28  under- 
went the  most  phenomenal  increase  in  tenancy  of  any  section  of 
the  state  during  this  decade  of  remarkable  growth  in  tenancy. 


23Ibid.,  following  106. 

24See  below,  pp.  50-58,  passim. 

25Around  East  St.  Louis. 

26The  strip  between  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  rivers. 


50 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[444 


Percentaqe 
of 

Farms  Operated  ^ 


Tenants 
Illinois 
1880 


Census 
1880 

Clgr.,  44-47 


445] 


CHANGES   IN   TENURE 


51 


Percentage, 

of 


Operated 

Tenants 
Illinois 


Census 
1890 


52  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [446 

In  1910  the  percentage  of  farms  under  tenant  cultivation 
was  41.44.  There  were  41  counties  with  percentages  exceeding 
45.0.  Twelve  of  the  counties  had  percentages  exceeding  55.0. 
By  1910  percentages  of  tenancy  exceeding  45.0  had  appeared 
in  many  of  the  counties  between  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi 
rivers.  Low  percentages  characterized  the  counties  bordering 
the  Mississippi  river  as  far  south  as  the  old  American  bottoms, 
and  followed  the  Illinois  river  over  half  the  distance  to  its  source. 
In  Southern  Illinois,  however,  the  percentages  in  the  counties 
bordering  the  Mississippi,  Ohio  and  Wabash  rivers  was  somewhat 
larger  than  the  percentages  prevailing  in  the  interior  counties. 
The  lowest  percentage  was  that  of  Edwards  county,  20.1,  while 
the  highest  was  that  of  Ford,  66.7.  Ford,  Logan,  and  Grundy 
counties  were  the  only  counties  in  the  United  States  north  of 
the  latitude  of  Cairo,  Illinois,  whose  percentage  of  tenant  farms 
was  above  60.0. 

To  ascertain  the  relative  growth  of  tenant  farming  in  Illi- 
nois from  1880  to  1910  we  may  employ  as  a  basis  the  number  of 
tenants  among  each  one  thousand  operators.  In  five  counties, 
led  by  DeKalb  with  a  percentage  of  122.7,  the  increase  in  the 
relative  number  of  tenant  farms  was  over  100  per  cent.  There 
were  five  counties27  in  which  there  was  a  decline  in  the  relative 
number  of  tenant  farms  during  the  period  considered.  The 
percentage  of  decline  was  largest  in  the  case  of  Pope  county. 
In  Pope  county,  however,  the  percentage  of  decline  was  only 
22.5.  Through  the  Central  part  of  the  state  the  increase  was 
between  25  and  50  per  cent.  In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  the 
relative  number  of  tenant  farms  was  stationary  in  Southern 
Illinois,  increased  by  one-fourth  to  one-half  in  Central  Illinois, 
and  doubled  in  Northern  Illinois  during  the  generation,  1880 
to  1910. 

The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  counties  in  each 
grade  when  classified  according  to  the  percentage  of  farms  oper- 
ated by  tenants. 


27 All  of  these  counties  are  located  in  Southern  Illinois. 


447] 


CHANGES   IN   TENURE 


53 


Percentage 
Forms  Operated 

by  Tenants 

Jlllinois 

iqoo 


Census 
1300 

l/o/  T 
73,  75 


Legend 

T]  5.0  to  14.9 

15.0  to  24.9 

25,0  to  34.9 

35*0  tQ  44.9 

45.0  to  54.9 

55.0  to  64.9 

65.0  to  74.9 


54 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[448 


Percentage  of  N! 
farms  Operated* 
by  Tenants 
Illinois 


Census 


VolTDL 
436-445 

Legend 


5.Q  to  14.9 
15.0  to  24.9 
25.0  to  34.9 
35.0  to  44.9 
45.0  to  54.9 
55.0  to  64.9 
65.0  to  74.9 


449] 


CHANGES  IN   TENURE 


55 


CLASSIFICATION   OF   COUNTIES   ACCORDING  TO   THE  PERCENTAGE  OF   FARMS   OPER- 
ATED BY  TENANTS,    AND  NET  CHANGE  IN  THE  NUMBER  OF  COUNTIES 
IN    EACH    PERCENTAGE    GROUP,    ILLINOIS,    iSSo-IQIO. 


Net  change,  i 

910  compared 

Percentage 

D; 

ite 

with 

1880 

range 

1910 

1900 

1890 

1880 

. 
Direction 

Number 

65.0  —  69.9 

I 

Inc. 

I 

60.0  —  64.9 

2 

I 



Inc. 

2 

55-0—59-9 

9 

3 

Inc. 

9 

50.0—54.9 

7 

9 

2 

i 

Inc. 

6 

45.0—49.9 

22 

13 

8 

3 

Inc. 

19 

40.0—44.9 

17 

25 

13 

5 

Inc. 

12 

35.0—39-9 

16 

17 

22 

19 

Dec. 

3 

30.0—34.9 

II 

13 

20 

22 

Dec. 

II 

25.0—29.9 

II 

12 

2O 

28 

Dec. 

17 

2O.O  —  24.9 

6 

9 

II 

19 

Dec. 

13 

I5.0—I9.9 

.... 

6 

4 

Dec. 

4 

10.0  —  14.0 

I 

Dec. 

i 

The  table  shows  the  positiveness  with  which  the  percentage 
of  tenant  farms  has  increased  in  Illinois  counties.  The  counties 
having  percentages  below  40.0  have  been  growing  fewer  and 
fewer  in  number,  while  the  number  of  counties  in  each  grade 
above  40.0  has  undergone  a  regular  increase. 

The  percentages  characterizing  the  Illinois  county  with  least 
tenancy  at  the  four  census  dates,  1880  to  1910,  were  14.5,  16.0, 
21.2  and  20.1  respectively.28  The  highest  percentages  similarly 
reported  were  50.4,  53.7,  62.9  and  66.9,  respectively.29  The 
lowest  percentage  was  5.6  points  higher  in  1910  than  in  1880, 
and  the  highest  percentage  had  risen  16.5  points. 

All  indications  go  to  show,  therefore,  that  while  the  rate  of 
progress  in  the  direction  of  farm  tenancy  has  been  slow  in  the 
case  of  some  counties  of  Illinois,  it  has  been  very  rapid  in  the 
case  of  some  other  counties.  The  movement  away  from  uni- 
formity in  Illinois  has  been  much  greater  than  is  indicated  by 
the  census  map  showing  the  distribution  of  tenants  by  number. 

28Edwards  county,  in  each  case. 

29Logan  county  in  1880,  and  Ford  county  in  1890,  1900  and  1910. 


56  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [450 

STATISTICS  OF  LAND  TENURE  BY   COUNTIES30 

The  absence  of  county  data  on  the  acreage  hired  and  owned 
by  part  owners  in  1900  makes  it  impossible  to  present  maps 
showing  the  percentage  of  farm  land  operated  under1  the  various 
forms  of  tenure  at  that  date.  By  courtesy  of  the  census  bureau, 
however,  the  thirteenth  census  data  on  renting  and  owning  by 
part  owners  in  Illinois  have  been  received  by  private  communica- 
tion for  99  of  the  102  counties  in  the  state.  This  makes  it  pos- 
sible to  present  here  the  data  on  land  tenure  for  1910. 

Comparing  the  map  showing  the  percentage  of  farm  land 
operated  by  tenants  in  1910  with  the  map  showing  the  percent- 
age of  farms  operated  by  tenants,  it  appears  that  in  Southern 
Illinois  the  tenants  operated  farms  averaging  smaller  than  those 
operated  under  other  forms  of  tenure.  In  Central  Illinois  east 
of  the  Illinois  river,  and  especially  in  the  interior  counties  of 
Northern  Illinois  the  tenant  farms  were  larger  than  those  of 
other  tenures.  In  the  Military  tract  tenant  farms  were  about  the 
same  in  size  as  other  farms.  As  a  whole,  the  state  had  43.59' 
percent  of  its  farm  land  operated  by  tenants  whereas  these 
constituted  41.44  per  cent  of  the  farm  operators. 

The  farms  operated  by  managers  were  0.96  per  cent  of  all 
farms  in  1910,  but  averaged  234.04  acres.  The  percentage  of 
land  managed  was  1.72.  In  Piatt  county,  managers  cultivated 
7.64  per  cent  of  the  land,  while  in  "Wabash  county  they  con- 
trolled but  0.18  per  cent.  Little  can  be  said  of  the  sectional 
variation  except  that  the  distribution  of  managed  land  is  highly 
sporadic.  However  prevalent  managing  may  be  west  of  the 
Mississippi,31  its  prominence  in  Illinois  in  1910  cannot  be  re- 
garded as  important. 

The  percentage  of  farm  land  operated  by  part  owners  in 
1910  was  17.15.  The  farms  of  part  owners  contained  an  average 
of  147.5  acres  against  the  general  average  of  129.1  acres.32  In 
two  counties  part  owners  cultivated  over  35  per  cent  of  the 
farm  land,  Edwards  county  leading  with  a  percentage  of  39.1. 
In  DuPage  county,  in  the  Northern  part  of  the  state,  only  3.0 
per  cent  of  the  farm  land  was  operated  by  part  owners.  In  a 

30"Land"  tenure  may  be  conveniently  used  when  we  think  in  terms  of 
acreage,  and  "farm"  tenure  when  we  think  in  terms  of  farms  or  of 
farmers. 

81See  above,  pp.  14,  16,  17. 

32See  below,  p.  87. 


451] 


CHANGES  IN   TENURE 


57 


Percentage  of 


Hired  by  Tenants 
Illinois 

wo 


Census 
WO 
Vol. TEL 
126-445 


65  to  74.1 


58 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[452 


Percentage  tff 
.FormJAcreoge 
}Hired  by  Part  Owners 
Illinois 


Census 

WO 

Vol.  3ZT 


453]  CHANGES  IN   TENURE  59 

general  way  it  may  be  said  that  the  control  of  part  owners  over 
Illinois  farming  is  greatest  in  Southern  Illinois,  average  in  Cen- 
tral Illinois,  and  least  in  Northern  Illinois. 

The  percentage  of  the  "partly  owned"  land  that  was  hired 
in  1910  varied  from  30.2  in  the  case  of  Hardin  county  to  55.2 
in  Vermilion  county.  The  counties  in  which  over  50.0  per  cent 
of  the  land  in  farms  of  part  owners  was  hired  were  in  the  East 
Central  part  of  the  state.  Those  in  which  less  than  40.0  per  cent 
of  the  land  in  partly  owned  farms  was  rented  were  in  the  South- 
ern part  of  the  state.  The  average  for  the  state  was  44.7  per  cent. 

A  map' is  presented  showing  the  percentage  of  the  total  farm 
land  in  each  of  99  counties  that  was  leased  by  part  owners  in 
1910.  The  smallest  percentage  was  1.6,  found  in  DuPage  and 
Kane  counties,  and  the  largest  percentage  was  that  of  Edwards 
county,  14.8.  The  counties  in  which  over  9.0  per  cent  of  the 
farm  land  was  hired  by  part  owners  were  confined  almost  entirely 
to  the  Southeastern  quarter  of  the  state.  Very  low  percentages 
occurred  in  the  extreme  Southern  and  Northern  ends  of  the 
state.  The  average  for  the  state  was  7.43  per  cent. 

Another  map  shows  the  percentage  of  all  land  in  the  99 
counties  hired  by  tenants  and  by  part  owners  in  1910.  The 
county  with  the  smallest  percentage  of  its  farm  land  operated 
under  lease  was  Hardin,  the  percentage  being  21.6.  In  Jo 
Daviess33  and  in  Pope  and  Johnson  counties34  the  percentages 
were  less  than  30.035  In  Ford  county  75.4  and  in  Logan  county 
72.4  per  cent  of  the  farm  land  was  hired.  Nineteen  counties  had 
over  60.0  per  cent  of  their  farm  land  hired.  These  counties,  with 
the  exception  of  Whiteside,  lay  in  the  Central  and  East  Central 
part  of  the  state. 

The  land  to  which  part  owners  held  deeds  constituted  9.73 
per  cent  of  the  total  farm  acreage  of  the  state.  In  DuPage 
county  the  percentage  of  the  farm  land  owned  by  part  owners 
was  but  1.4,  while  in  Jasper  county  it  was  21.8.  The  percentages 
throughout  Southern  Illinois,  except  St.  Clair  county  and  the 
extreme  Southern  tip,  were  above  the  state  average.  In  a  rough 
way  it  may  be  said  that  the  amount  of  land  owned  by  part  owners 
decreases  the  farther  north  one  goes  in  the  state. 

Owners  proper  operated  37.54  per  cent  of  the  land  in  Illinois 

3SIn  the  Northwest  corner  of  the  state. 
34In  the  Southern  tip  of  the  state. 

35Massac  county  would  probably  come  in  the  same  class  had  we  the 
data  for  it. 


60 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[454 


Percentage  of 
In  crease  in  A  vera<j 
Value  of  L and 
Buildings.  Per  Acre 
Xllinoti 


i/ol  MlWtb 

1100 
,273-271 


455] 


CHANGES  IN  TENURE 


61 


Percentage  of 
Farm  Acreage 
Operated  by 
Owners  Proper 
Illinois 
19/0 


Census 
1310 
1/0/3ZT 


62  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [456 

in  1910.  The  percentage  in  Ford  county  was  the  least,  18.4, 
while  the  percentage  in  Hardin  county  was  the  largest,  73.2.  In 
13  counties  the  owners  proper  operated  less  than  25.0  per  cent  of 
the  farm  land,  these  being  East  Central  Illinois  counties. 

In  13  counties,  located  mainly  in  East  Central  Illinois, 
the  proportion  of  land  operated  by  the  owners  was  less  than  33.3 
per  cent.  In  5  of  these  counties  the  percentage  was  under  30.0 
and  in  one  county,  Ford,  the  percentage  was  23.7.  Only  three 
or  four  counties  had  percentages  exceeding  70.0.  These  were 
Hardin,  77.8;  Pope,  75.9;  Johnson,  74.0;  and  possibly  Massac. 
The  average  for  the  state  was  47.28  per  cent. 

It  is  evident  that  the  leasing  of  land  has  a  very  prominent 
place  in  Illinois  agriculture,  and  that  there  are  marked  sectional 
variations. 

THE  SECTIONAL  ASPECTS  OF  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 

The  sectional  differences  in  land  leasing  in  Illinois  can  be 
best  understood  by  tracing  the  sectional  variations  in  other 
features  of  agriculture  in  the  state.36 

In  1880  it  appears  that  the  counties  with  the  highest  per- 
centage of  land  area  in  farms,  of  farm  land  improved,  of  im- 
proved land  in  cereals,  of  improved  land  in  corn,  and  the 
counties  with  the  highest  average  number  of  acres  per  farm, 
and  the  highest  average  value  of  products  per  acre  were  located 
in  the  Central  and  Northern  parts  of  the  state.  The  figures 
reported  for  the  Southern  Illinois  counties  were  smaller  than 
those  of  the  other  counties  in  the  case  of  each  subject,  or  basis 
of  comparison  mentioned.  In  like  manner  the  land  was  lowest  in 
price  in  Southern  Illinois,  but  the  counties  having  the  highest 
priced  lands  in  1880  were  located  in  the  Northwestern  part  of  the 
state. 

36The  typewritten  copy  of  this  thesis  on  file  in  the  library  of  the 
University  of  Illinois  contains  county  outline  maps  showing  data  by 
counties  on  each  of  the  following  items : 

(i)  The  percentage  of  land  area  in  farms,  1880  and  1910.  (2)  The 
percentage  of  farm  land  improved,  1880  and  1910.  (3)  The  percentage 
of  improved  farm  acreage  devoted  to  the  production  of  all  cereals,  and  of 
corn,  1880,  1890,  1900,  and  1910.  (4)  The  average  number  of  acres  per 
farm,  1880,  1890,  1900,  and  1910.  (5)  The  average  value  of  products 
per  acre,  1879,  1889,  and  1899.  (6)  The  average  value  of  land  and  build- 
ings per  acre,  1880,  1890,  1900,  and  1910.  (7)  The  percentage  of  increase 
in  the  average  value  of  land  and  buildings  per  acre,  1880-1910,  1880-1900, 
and  1900-1910. 


457] 


CHANGES   IN   TENURE 


63 


Percentage   of 
Land  Area  in 

Farms 
Illinois 


Census 
1110 
VdL.Hl 


mnn 


Legend 
55  to  649 

65  to 


85  To  9-7.9 


64  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [458 

The  data  for  1890  and  1900  show  the  same  sectional  differ- 
ences, with  a  tendency  for  the  sectional  differences  to  widen 
except  in  the  case  of  the  percentages  of  land  area  in  farms  and 
of  farm  area  improved. 

In  1910  the  percentages  of  land  area  in  farms  and  of  farm 
land  improved  were  much  more  nearly  uniform  throughout 
the  state  than  at  previous  census  dates.  This  is  because  of  the 
fact  that  there  has  been  an  increasing  demand  for  land  in  all 
parts  of  the  state.  That  fact  is  attested  by  the  higher  value  of 
land  in  1910  as  compared  with  previous  dates.  There  was  a 
concentration  on  the  production  of  cereals  in  the  Central  coun- 
ties. This  was  doubtless  in  response  to  the  higher  prices  paid 
for  cereal  products.  The  result  of  the  changes  in  prices  and  of 
the  redistribution  of  productions  was  to  increase  the  differences 
between  sections  in  the  value  of  products  per  acre.37  The 
sectional  differences  in  the  value  of  land  and  buildings  per  acre 
were  greater  than  those  in  any  of  the  other  features,  due  in  large 
part  to  the  fact  that  the  relative  increase  in  the  value  of  land 
and  buildings  per  acre  was  greatest  in  the  districts  where  highest 
prices  had  prevailed  in  1900  and  1890.  A  similar  development 
took  place  in  the  matter  of  average  farm  acreages.  In  the 
Southern  part  of  the  state  farms  changed  little  in  size  from  1880 
to  1910,  while  in  the  counties  of  the  Central  part  of  the  state  a 

37The  unreliability  of  these  statistics  and  the  fact  that  they  represent 
the  gross  values  of  products  make  it  necessary  to  be  cautious  in  their  use. 

Data  were  gathered  in  1880  and  1890  for  products  raised,  the  part 
fed  to  livestock  on  the  farm  being  given  an  estimated  value  and  included. 
In  1900  the  data  excluded  the  products  fed  to  livestock.  This  makes 
comparisons  with  previous  census  data  of  doubtful  value.  Even  for  the 
same  census  comparisons  between  counties  in  which  livestock  and  dairying 
were  practised  and  other  counties  must  lose  most  of  their  significance. 
The  census  of  1910  gives  up  any  attempt  "to  compute  or  even  to  esti- 
mate approximately  the  total  value  of  farm  products"  and  proceeds  to 
enumerate  the  "numerous  difficulties  which  stand  in  the  way  of  obtaining 
a  total  which  would  be  at  once  comprehensive,  free  from  duplication  and 
confined  exclusively  to  the  products  of  a  definite  period  of  time."  Values 
of  the  different  productions  were  reported  separately  in  1910,  however, 
and  an  inspection  of  these  returns  bears  out  the  statement  in  the  text 
to  which  this  footnote  appends. 

The  values  are  the  so-called  "farm  values",  rather  than  the  values 
of  the  products  delivered  at  the  market.  The  data  at  each  census  are 
for  the  preceding  year,  so  far  as  productions  are  concerned,  but  the 
acres  of  land  in  farms  and  the  prices  are  those  of  the  current  census  year. 


459]  CHANGES  IN  TENURE  65 

considerable  increase  took  place  in  the  size  of  the  average  farm. 

The  development  during  the  last  generation  can  be  better 
understood,  perhaps,  by  referring  to  the  distribution  of  timber  in 
1880.  On  some  maps  designed  to  show  the  density  of  timber  in 
various  parts  of  the  state  is  what  may  be  called  the  "ten  cords" 
line.  This  line  divides  the  territory  in  which  there  were  more 
than  ten  cords  of  wood  per  acre  from  that  in  which  the  cordage 
per  acre  was  less  than  ten.38  The  latter  may  be  regarded  roughly 
as  the  original  prairie  district  of  the  state.39 

In  nearly  every  comparison  between  recent  and  earlier 
census  data  the  later  reports  show  developments  to  be  concen- 
trating in  the  old  prairie  district.  The  most  striking  case  is  that 
of  land  values.  The  highest  values  in  1880  were  in  the  territory 
north  and  west  of  the  Illinois  river.  By  1910  the  district  of 
highest  land  prices  had  become  centered  in  the  East  Central  part 
of  the  state  and  the  counties  in  which  the  value  of  land  and 
buildings  per  acres  exceeded  125  dollars  were,  almost  without 
exception,  those  whose  areas  constituted  the  original  prairie. 

When  the  maps  illustrating  tenancy  are  compared  with 
those  showing  the  sectional  aspects  in  the  other  features  of 
agriculture,  the  resemblance  is  striking.  The  counties  with  high- 
est percentages  of  tenancy  at  each  date  were,  for  the  most  part, 
the  prairie  counties.  In  1910,  especially,  the  district  in  which 
over  45  per  cent  of  the  farms  were  operated  by  tenants,  which 
is  nearly  the  same  as  that  in  which  over  50  per  cent  of  the  land 
was  leased,  was  denned  almost  exactly  by  the  line  dividing  the 
original  prairie  and  timber  regions. 

The  sectional  association  of  tenancy  with  the  values  of  pro- 
ducts, with  values  of  land  and  buildings,  and  with  various 
acreages  of  farms  is  exhibited  in  the  table  on  the  next  page.  The 
counties  were  divided  into  six  groups  of  seventeen  counties  each, 
independently  for  each  census.  Group  I  included  the  seventeen 
counties  that  stood  highest  in  the  percentages  of  tenant  farms 
at  the  census  date  in  question,  group  II  included  those  ranking 
from  eighteenth  to  thirty-fourth,  and  so  on  for  the  other  four 
groups. 

In  all  cases  the  range  of  difference  between  the  highest  and 
lowest  county  group  averages  was  greater  at  each  succeeding 
census  date.  This  increase  in  sectional  differences  seems  to  have 
affected  not  only  the  items  given  here,  but  also  items  of  produc- 

38Census,  1880,  Forest  Trees  of  North  America,  plate  7. 
39Pooley,  E.  V.,  The  Settlement  of  Illinois  from  1830  to  1850,  308. 


66 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


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461]  CHANGES   IN   TENURE  67 

tion, — nearly  everything,  in  fact,  except  the  percentage  of  land 
area  in  farms,  the  percentage  of  farm  area  improved,  and  the 
percentage  of  farm  area  in  woodland.  The  application  of  capital 
and  labor  seems  to  have  produced  greater  sectional  differ- 
entiation. 

The  tendency  toward  sectional  concentration  in  the  agricul- 
ture of  Illinois  doubtless  results  from  the  fact  that  farming  has 
been  carried  on  for  increasingly  larger  market  areas,  and  that 
the  capacities  of  soil  and  situation  for  the  production  of  certain 
staples  have  been  revealed  more  and  more  clearly  with  the 
advance  of  time. 

In  the  case  of  each  of  the  three  bases  of  comparison  given  in 
the  table  the  sectional  association  with  tenancy  was  closer  at 
each  succeeding  census.  In  1910  the  parallelism  was  very  close 
between  tenancy  and  average  values  per  acre  of  products  and  of 
land  and  buildings.  The  county  groups  III  and  IV  (on  the 
basis  of  tenancy)  ranked  fourth  and  third,  respectively,  in  the 
average  size  of  farms,  but  otherwise  the  sectional  correspondence 
between  tenancy  and  the  size  of  farms  was  consistent.  The  same 
sectional  correspondence  obtained  between  tenancy  and  the 
percentage  of  land  area  in  farms,  and  between  tenancy  and  the 
percentage  of  improved  land  devoted  to  cereal  and  especially 
corn  and  oats  production. 

The  fundamental  reason  for  the  increasing  association  of 
all  the  factors  has  been  the  influence  of  an  increasing  market 
demand  for  cereals,  the  production  of  which  in  Illinois  was  being 
carried  on  under  a  perfecting  machine  economy.  This  influ- 
ence has  been  most  felt  in  districts  in  which  machinery  could 
be  most  effectively  employed  and  in  which  the  natural  fund  of 
fertility  enabled  fertilizing  costs  to  be  almost  entirely  eliminated. 
The  rich,  level  prairie  has,  therefore,  responded  with  greater 
percentages  of  land  area  under  cultivation,  of  farm  area  im- 
proved, of  improved  area  in  cereals,  and  with  greater  acreage 
per  farm. 

Tenancy  has  been  a  phase  accompanying  this  movement, 
and  has  been  related  to  the  other  factors. 

Farm  tenancy  has  been  more  or  less  prevalent  in  Illinois 
districts  according  as  they  have  been  producing  a  high  or  low 
value  of  products  per  acre.  It  would  scarcely  be  urged  that 
the  association  of  tenancy  with  high  acre  values  of  products 
proves  that  tenancy  was  responsible  for  the  higher  productive- 
ness of  the  land.  "Productiveness"  is  a  matter  of  gross  values, 


68  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [462 

however,  and  not  simply  one  of  yields  per  acre.  For  that  reason 
tenancy  may  have  increased  the  gross  values  of  products  per 
acre  by  causing  a  larger  portion  of  the  land  area  to  be  devoted 
to  the  production  of  products  the  gross  values  per  acre  of  which 
are  high.  On  the  other  hand,  the  productiveness  of  the  soil  has 
done  much  to  determine  the  proportion  of  the  land  operated 
under  lease.  The  gross  value  of  products  per  acre  in  different 
sections  must  be  a  fair  index  of  the  relative  rents  paid  for  equal 
areas  in  those  sections.  The  higher  the  rents  received  by  the 
landowners,  the  greater  is  the  chance  that  the  owners  may  feel 
free  from  the  necessity  of  operating  their  land. 

At  this  point,  however,  the  size  of  farms  and  holdings43 
must  be  considered. 

Differences  in  per-acre  rentals  do  not  afford  alone  a  basis 
for  explaining  diffierences  in  the  prevalence  of  tenant  farming. 
The  ability  of  many  landowners  to  live  without  operating  their 
farm  land  is  contingent  upon  the  amount  of  rent  they  receive. 
The  number  of  acres  from  which  they  receive  rent  is  often  a 
more  important  consideration,  therefore,  than  the  rent  per  acre. 
The  larger  the  average  size  of  holdings  the  greater  we  may  sup- 
pose the  opportunity  to  be  for  landowners  to  rent  their  land 
out  and  live  upon  its  rental  income. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  prevalence  of  holdings  too  small 
to  be  operated  except  in  connection  with  adjacent  land  may 
contribute  to  land  renting.44 

It  is  probable  that  tenancy  has,  in  turn,  had  an  influence 
upon  the  size  of  farms.  When  an  owner  leases  his  land  to  ten- 
ants, he  naturally  tries  to  get  the  lay-out  of  land  best  adapted 
to  tenant  operation.  Unless  the  economies  of  cultivation  favor 
small  farms,  the  owner  will  seek  tenants  who  will  operate  in 
larger  tracts.  For  the  owner  this  cuts  down  the  difficulty  and 
expense  of  negotiation  and  supervision.  Where  the  advantages 
of  large-scale  farming  are  effective,  the  better  class  of  tenants 
are  naturally  attracted  to  opportunities  for  operating  on  a  large 
scale. 

In  districts  where  the  advantages  of  large-scale  farming 
have  been  less  pronounced  there  has  been  a  smaller  possibility 
for  owners  to  amass  large  holdings.  As  a  consequence  fewer 

43Holdings   may   be   understood  to   refer   to   all   the   farm   property 
owned  by  a  landlord ;  sometimes  including  several  farms. 
44See  above,  p.  22. 


463] 


CHANGES  IN  TENURE 


69 


Average  Numde 
of  Acres  per 
Farm 

Illinois 
WO 


Census 

mo 

Vol.ZL 


70  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [464 

of  the  farms  in  the  districts  where  small  holdings  prevail  are 
operated  under  lease. 

Thus  far  in  this  division  renting  has  been  considered  largely 
from  the  point  of  view  of  owners  with  land  to  rent.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  are  those  who  want  to  operate  land,  in  most 
cases,  no  doubt,  looking  forward  with  hope  for  land  ownership. 
To  these  persons  the  prices  they  must  pay  for  land  are  of 
special  importance. 

It  will  be  observed  in  the  table  above  that  sectional  corre- 
spondence between  land  prices  and  values  of  products,  while  not 
close  in  1880,  came  later  to  be  more  and  more  so.  It  is  probable 
that,  on  account  of  its  not  yet  having  been  adequately  tiled,  the 
open  prairie  land  was  not  yet  established  as  superior  in  value 
in  1880,  for  the  highest  land  prices  were  at  that  time  in  the 
district  north  and  west  of  the  Illinois  river.  At  the  later  dates, 
however,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  price  of  land  is  a  fairly  accur- 
ate index  of  its  productiveness. 

The  sectional  correspondence  of  land  prices  with  tenant 
farming  was  not  very  close  in  1880.  The  failure  in  this  case 
need  not  be  taken  too  seriously,  however,  because  the  average 
value  of  land  and  buildings  differed  little  from  section  to  sec- 
tion. At  each  succeeding  census  the  sections  were  more  dis- 
tinctly differentiated  from  one  another  in  this  respect.  As 
this  change  took  place  high  percentages  of  tenancy  and  high 
prices  of  land,  and  small  percentages  of  tenancy  and  low  prices 
of  land  were  more  usually  found  in  the  same  districts.  The 
association  was  very  close  in  1910 — closer,  perhaps,  than  that  of 
tenancy  with  any  of  the  other  phenomena  with  which  compari- 
sons are  made  here. 

High  land  prices  have  been  characteristic  of  the  districts 
where  the  standard  size  of  farms  was  especially  large.  As  a 
consequence  the  investment  necessary  for  the  purchase  of  a  farm 
of  representative  size  in  the  districts  of  high  prices  has  been 
much  larger  than  in  the  districts  of  smaller  farms  and  lower 
prices.  Since  the  percentage  of  the  value  which  can  be  covered 
by  mortgage  is  smaller  in  the  case  of  the  higher  priced  land,45 
the  demand  for  ready  cash  is  greater  than  the  ratio  of  the  price 
to  cheaper  land  would  lead  one  to  suppose.  Ready  cash,  however, 


45Stewart,  C.  L.,  An  Analysis  of  Rural  Banking  Conditions  in  Illinois, 
14,  15- 


465]  CHANGES  IN  TENURE  71 

and  credit  on  which  to  get  money,  is  what  the  tenant  ordinarily 
lacks. 

For  the  most  part,  the  influence  of  timber  has  been  expressed 
in  our  data  in  the  reduced  earning  power  of  the  land.  It  seems 
probable,  however,  that  it  has  had  an  effect  upon  tenancy  in  a 
more  direct  manner.  Timber  offers  attractions  to  many  people 
because  of  the  kind  of  life  to  which  it  is  conducive.  Hunting, 
fishing,  and  the  more  varied  activities  which  characterize  life 
where  the  function  of  woodsman  and  farmer  are  combined 
probably  cause  the  owners  of  such  land  to  have  less  desire  to 
retire  from  their  places. 

The  result  of  the  study  of  sectional  differences  shows  that  a 
single  index,  such  as  the  value  of  land  per  acre  or  per  farm, 
cannot  be  regarded  as  sufficient  for  an  explanation  of  sectional 
differences  in  tenure.  Of  all  single  factors  given  statistical 
expression  in  the  census  reports  gross  values  of  products  per 
acre  seem  to  have  had  the  most  complete  sectional  parallelism 
with  tenancy  in  Illinois.  Probably  gross  values  of  products  per 
farm  would  afford  a  still  better  index  of  tenancy. 

There  remains  to  be  made  an  inquiry  into  the  historical 
changes  in  the  features  thus  far  considered,  as  it  were,  by  decen- 
nial cross-sections  of  the  state. 

HISTORICAL  TENDENCIES  AND  TENURE   IN  ILLINOIS. 

From  1880  to  1910  the  number  per  1000  farms  of  farms 
operated  by  tenants  increased  30.1  per  cent,  and  of  farms  oper- 
ated by  owners,  part  owners  and  managers  decreased  16.0  per 
•cent.46 

The  number  of  acres  of  improved  land  per  1000  acres  of 
land  area  increased  from  728  to  782,  or  7.3  per  cent,  between 
1880  and  1910.  That  the  improved  farm  acreage  should  have 
changed  less  than  the  number  of  the  operators  is  only  to  be 
expected.  In  so  far  as  slowness  of  expansion  in  the  improved 
farm  acreage  in  Illinois  in  indicative  of  a  similar  condition 
throughout  the  country,47  it  may  imply  a  greater  cost  of  in- 
creasing the  improved  acreage  beyond  the  dimensions  attained 
in  1880.  To  the  extent  that  such  is  the  case,  the  relative  scarcity 
of  land  compared  with  the  general  population  may,  through  the 
rise  in  prices  of  products  and  of  land,  and  through  increasing 
competition  for  rented  farms,  have  stimulated  the  practice  of 
tenancy  at  the  expense  of  operation  by  owners. 

46See  above,  p.  47. 
47  See  above,  p.  29. 


72  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [466 

Improving  land  has  probably  affected  its  tenure.  In  1880 
there  were  4,935,575  acres  of  woodland  and  forest  in  Illinois 
farms.  By  1910  this  was  reduced  to  3,147,879  acres.48  Evidence 
is  thus  afforded  of  a  tendency  to  clear  the  timber  from  the  land.49 
Large  quantities  of  land  have  been  reclaimed  by  means  of 
drainage  projects,  especially  along  the  river  courses.  By  in- 
creasing the  value  of  the  land  the  way  was  paved  for  renting 
it  more  successfully  in  the  future.  It  is  probable,  however,  that 
the  individual  farmers  who  cleared  and  drained  their  farms 
were  not  themselves  inclined  to  rent  them  out  to  tenants.50  The 
fact  that  their  farms  responded  to  their  efforts  to  improve  them, 
though  simple  in  its  psychology,  is  a  significant  one.  The  suc- 
ceeding generation  of  owners,  however,  may  not  be  so  much 
attached  to  the  land  as  their  predecessors  who  improved  it,  and 
may  find  the  growing  of  staple  crops  by  their  tenants  as  satis- 
factory to  them  as  if  the  land  had  always  been  treeless  or  natur- 
ally drained. 

A  basis  for  comparing  the  changes  in  tenancy  with  the 
changes  in  some  other  agricultural  phenomena  is  afforded  in 
the  next  table. 

48Census,  1910,  VI,  425,  and  1880,  Agriculture,  103. 

49The  present  wooded  areas  represent  with  fair  accuracy  the  original 
forest  of  the  state.  About  thirty  per  cent  of  the  total  area  of  Illinois, 
in  1857  was  given  as  woodland.  By  1880  it  appears  that  all  of  the 
woodland  in  farms  added  to  all  the  land  area  not  in  farms  could  not 
have  exceeded  twenty-five  per  cent,  while  it  is  possible  that  the  per- 
centage of  the  total  land  area  in  timber  did  not  then  exceed  fifteen. 
The  forest  area  of  the  state  in  1911  was  estimated  at  between  five  and  six 
per  cent  of  the  land  area. 

It  seems  that  nearly  half  of  the  timberland  existing  in  Illinois  in< 
1857  was  cleared  during  the  twenty-three  years  preceding  1880,  while 
two-thirds  of  the  remainder  was  cleared  during  the  thirty-one  years 
following. 

It  is  not  probable  that  any  great  portion  of  the  timber  has  been 
ruthlessly  burned  in  order  to  use  the  space  for  agriculture.  The  market 
for  hardwood  timber,  of  the  varieties  found  in  both  Northern  and 
Southern  Illinois,  has  been  an  open  one,  and  many  of  the  varieties  native 
to  Illinois  were  such  as  sold  well.  The  more  prevalent  practice  in 
deforestation  seems  to  have  been  to  cull  the  more  salable  timber,  and  to. 
treat  the  cut-over  timber  as  the  owner's  policy  might  dictate. 

(See  Hall  and  Ingalls,  Forest  Conditions  in  Illinois,  177,  180-242,. 
passim). 

60Drainage  has  sometimes  been  carried  on  by  "outside"  capitalists, 
in  whose  case  the  element  of  personal  attachment  to  the  land  would  not 
ordinarily  be  strong.  See  histories  of  most  river  counties. 


467] 


CHANGES  IN   TENURE 


73 


THE  ABSOLUTE  NUMBER  OF,  THE  PERCENTAGE  OF  INCREASE  OR  DECREASE  OVER 
THE  PRECEDING  CENSUS,  AND  THE  PERCENTAGE  OF  THE  INCREASE  BETWEEN 
l88o  AND  ipio  OCCURRING  DURING  EACH  DECADE  IN  TENANTS  PER  THOUS- 
AND OPERATORS,  ACRES  PER  FARM,  AND  DOLLARS  WORTH  OF  PRODUCTS  AND 
OF  LAND  AND  BUILDINGS  PER  ACRE,  ILLINOIS,  iSSo-IQIO.51 


1900 


1890 


I880 


Number  of 
Tenants  per  1000  operators  

414 

393 

34O 

314 

Acres  per  farm  

1  20.  1 

124.2 

126.7 

123.8 

Average  value  per  acre  (in  dollars).... 
Products  of  preceding  year52  

17.92 

9.4O 

7.O2 

6.43 

Land  and  buildings  

108.32 

[53.84 

41.41 

31.87 

Percentage  of  increase   during  the 
decade  ending 
Tenants  per  1000  operators  

5-3 

15.6 

8.3 

Acres  per  farm  

3.9 

—  2.O53 

2.3 

Average  value  per  acre 
Products  of  preceding  year 

80.9 

3"?.9 

9.2 

Land    and    buildings 

IOI.2 

3O.O 

3O.O 

Percentage    of    increase,    1880-1910, 
occurring  during  the  decade  end'g 
Tenants  per  1000  operators        ..  .. 

21  .0 

=53.0 

26.O 

Average   value   per   acre 
Products  of  preceding  year  

72.Q 

21.7 

5.4 

Land  and  buildings.... 

71.3 

16.3 

1  2.  5 

The  table  shows  a  trend  toward  larger  figures  in  all  the 
phenomena,  much  greater  in  the  case  of  the  values  of  products 
and  of  land  and  buildings  than  in  the  case  of  tenancy  or  the 
size  of  farms.  The  relative  number  of  tenant  farms  increased 
most  between  1890  and  1900,  the  decade  during  which  the  farms 
grew  smaller  on  the  average.  This  affords  no  contradiction, 
however,  to  the  conclusion  previously  arrived  at,  that  smaller 
farms  are  usually  operated  by  the  owners.  A  reduction  in  the 
size  of  farms  may,  moreover,  be  related  to  an  increase  in  tenancy, 
because  of  a  movement  on  the  part  of  larger  owners  to  cut  down 

"Census,  1910,  VI,  426,  436,  446;  1900,  V,  72,  148,  149,  273;  1890, 
Agriculture,  119,  204;  and  1880,  Agriculture,  28,  29,  in. 

52With  1880  as  loo.o  index  numbers  for  the  succeeding  census  dates 
were  calculated  on  the  basis  of  the  two  American  systems,  with  the  fol- 
lowing result:  1890,  86.3;  1900,  85.3;  1910,  100.9.  The  values  before 
being  placed  on  the  tabular  basis  were  1890,  $6.06;  1900,  $8.02;  and 
1910,  $17.98.  See  above,  p.  40,  note  26. 

53Minus  sign  ( — )  indicates  decrease. 


74  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [468 

the  size  of  the  farming  units  for  the  sake  of  greater  efficiency  in 
production. 

The  rise  in  the  value  of  products  per  acre  is,  of  course,  by 
no  means  an  accurate  measure  of  the  average  profits  per  acre, 
and,  therefore,  we  should  expect  to  find  the  value  of  land  and 
buildings  subject  to  a  different  variation  than  that  in  the  value 
of  products.  The  difference,  however,  is  not  great,  the  value  of 
products  per  acre  increasing  171  per  cent,  and  the  value  of 
land  and  buildings  241  per  cent  between  1880  and  1910.  It  is 
only  fair  to  estimate  that  the  money  profits  of  farming  an  acre 
increased  somewhere  near  200  per  cent. 

The  increase  of  tenancy  was  much  slower  than  the  rise  in 
the  value  of  products,  the  value  of  land  and  buildings,  or,  possi- 
bly, of  the  profits  per  acre.  The  decade  of  the  most  phenomenal 
increase  in  the  value  of  products,  land  and  buildings,  and,  pre- 
sumably, profits,  was  the  one  of  least  relative  increase  in  tenancy, 
and  followed  the  decade  of  greatest  relative  increase  in  tenancy. 
It  might  seem,  therefore,  that  the  increase  of  tenancy  may  have 
influenced  the  other  factors,  as  well  as  that  the  other  factors 
influenced  tenancy. 

If  we  consider  divisions  within  the  state,  the  disagreement 
between  the  rate  of  advance  in  land  prices  and  the  rate  of 
increase  in  tenancy  is  still  more  obvious.  The  increase  in  the 
price  of  an  average  acre  in  the  East  Central  counties  during  the 
thirty-year  period,  1880  to  1910,  was  from  four  to  six  fold. 
This  was  about  twice  as  great  as  the  increase  that  took  place 
in  the  price  of  a  similar  area  in  Northern  and  Western  Illinois 
and  about  three  or  four  times  as  great  as  the  corresponding 
increase  in  Southern  Illinois.54  The  percentage  of  tenancy 
doubled  in  Northern  Illinois,  increased  by  half  in  Central  Illi- 
nois, and  remained  practically  stationary  in  Southern  Illinois. 

It  appears,  then,  that  in  Illinois  the  price  of  land  has  been 
highest  and  has  increased  most  where  and  when  the  percentage 
of  tenancy  was  the  highest,  but  that  the  percentage  of  tenancy 
has  not  increased  most  either  when  or  where  land  prices  were 
the  highest,  or  when  land  prices  were  increasing  most  rapidly. 
In  other  words,  land  prices  have  been  more  consistent  with  and 
responsive  to  differences  and  changes  in  tenancy  than  tenancy 
has  been  to  differences  and  changes  in  land  prices. 

To  some  extent  rising  land  prices  are  an  indication  of 
enlarged  incomes  of  farmers  and  their  relation  to  land  tenure 

54See  below,  p.  73,  note  57. 


469]  CHANGES  IN   TENURE  75> 

is  a  complicated  one  for  that  reason.  With  rising  profits  from 
farming  many  operating  owners  who  might  otherwise  have  left 
and  possibly  sold  their  farms,  are  attracted  by  these  greater 
profits  to  stay.55  Thus  the  immediate  effect  of  conditions  caus- 
ing higher  land  prices  may  be  to  prevent  increase  in  tenancy. 
Likewise,  the  immediate  effect  of  falling  profits  in  farming  may 
be  to  discourage  owners  from  operating  and  possibly  owning 
land.  If  these  owners  quit  operating  without  selling  their  land, 
tenancy  is  increased.  If  the  land  is  sold  to  tenants  who  proceed  to 
operate,  tenancy  is  decreased.  So  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether 
the  immediate  effects  of  falling  profits  and  low  prices  is  to 
change  the  tenure  of  the  land,  although  the  ultimate  effects  are 
surely  to  decrease  tenancy.  The  immediate  accompaniment  of 
rising  land  prices  is  likely  to  be  an  increase  in  tenancy,  although 
the  situation  tends  ultimately  to  become  favorable  to  tenancy. 
The  decade  marked  by  the  greatest  increase  in  tenancy  was  that 
between  1900  and  1910.  Agricultural  profits  were  disappoint- 
ing during  the  early  part  of  the  decade,  but  were  picking  up 
later.  It  is  possible  that  many  owners  whose  desire  to  quit 
farming  was  strengthened  by  the  depression,  found  the  effective- 
ness of  their  desire  increased  by  the  general  improvemnt  of 
agricultural  conditions.  Since  1900  the  continued  increase  in 
the  profits  of  farming  has  strengthened  the  attractiveness  of  the 
farm  as  a  place  for  owners  to  make  money  by  operating,  but 
the  economic  freedom  to  leave  the  farm  has  also  grown. 

The  influence  of  tenancy  upon  land  prices  arises  in  several 
ways.  In  the  first  place,  the  greater  the  number  of  available 
tenants  for  the  renting  of  a  piece  of  land,  the  greater  is  the 
value  of  an  investment  in  such  land  to  those  who  want  to  hold 
it  without  operating  it.  An  investor  can  afford  to  bid  higher 
for  such  land.  In  the  second  place,  competition  among  tenants 
causes  the  rents  paid  to  approach  more  nearly  to  the  maximum. 
This  naturally  increases  the  value  of  the  farm  to  the  owner. 
In  the  third  place,  the  higher  the  percentage  of  tenancy  in  the 
case  of  land  devoted  to  the  production  of  staple  crops,  and  the 
more  limited  the  aggregate  acreage  on  which  such  crops  can  be 
profitably  produced,  the  greater  must  be  the  "restraint  of  pro- 
duction" through  the  inefficiency  of  tenants,  and  the  greater 
must  be  the  effect  of  this  restraint  of  production  upon  prices 
of  products,  profits  of  farming,  and  land  values.  Within  its 

55See  Taylor,  H.  C,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Agricultural  Eco- 
nomics, 244-246. 


76 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[470 


Average  Value  ^" 
of  Land  and 
Building  s  per  Acre 
Illinois 
1880 


Legend 

1         [Under  IO.OO 


471] 


CHANGES   IN    TENURE 


77 


ui/dmgsrerAcre 
Illinois 
1110 


« ^ 

Under  IO..V. 
/(? 

25Atf  J9.99 
To  51. 19 


78  LAND   TENURE   IN   ILLINOIS  [472 

limits,  inefficient  production  of  crops,  the  area  of  production  of 
which  is  naturally  or  economically  restricted,  must  exert  an 
influence  similar  to  a  crop  shortage,  which  often  results  in  a 
greater  relative  rise  in  prices  per  unit  than  the  relative  decline 
in  aggregate  production.56  In  so  far  as  inefficient  farming  is 
promoted  by  tenants  the  effect  may  be  somewhat  to  stimulate 
land  prices  through  this  " shortage"  influence  on  production. 
As  the  areas  of  land  suited  to  the  production  of  staples  become 
more  definitely  fixed,  and  as  a  greater  demand  is  made  by  popu- 
lation for  the  products  of  those  areas,  the  influence  of  inefficient 
production  must  become  greater  in  this  respect. 

Still  it  is  probably  true  that  the  rise  of  land  prices  has 
exerted  a  greater  influence  upon  tenancy  than  tenancy  has 
exerted  upon  the  rise  of  land  prices.  Lands  increasing  in  value 
so  as  to  give  a  high  annual  rate  of  return  on  previous  valuations 
tend  to  be  capitalized  at  a  more  conservative  rate  of  interest  on 
the  earning  power  than  lands  increasing  in  value  more  slowly. 
The  tenant  is  not  in  a  position  to  pay  prices  based  on  such  a 
conservative  interest  rate.  The  rise  in  land  prices  has  doubtless 
exerted  this  kind  of  influence  most  pronouncedly  in  the  cereal- 
growing  counties.  In  five  counties  in  Central  Illinois  the  average 
prices  of  land  and  buildings  per  acre  increased  over  five-fold 
between  1880  and  1910,57  as  against  an  increase  of  about  half  as 
great  for  the  state  as  a  whole.  Between  1900  and  1910  the  rela- 
tive increase  in  the  value  of  land  and  buildings  per  acre  was 
about  twice  as  great  in  the  East  Central  counties  as  in  the 
Southern  counties.  The  greater  multiplying  power  of  capital 
invested  in  the  old  prairie  district  has  had  much  to  do  in 
increasing  the  size  of  holdings  among  land  owners  and  of  de- 
creasing the  chances  for  tenants  to  become  owners  in  those 
districts. 

The  historical  study  shows  that  tenancy  became  more  pre- 
valent during  the  time  when  the  state  underwent  an  increase  in 
(1)  the  percentage  of  land  area  improved,  (2)  the  average 
number  of  acres  per  farm,  and  (3)  the  average  value  per  acre  of 


56Thompson,  J.  G.,  in  Publications  of  the  American  Economic  Asso- 
ciation, IX,  68-70. 

57The  percentage  of  increase  in  the  value  of  land  and  buildings  per 
acre  in  the  five  counties  was  as  follows:  Champaign,  551;  Douglas,  514; 
Ford,  545;  Moultrie,  596;  and  Piatt,  518.  See  Census,  1910,  VI,  426-435; 
and  1880,  Agriculture,  in,  112. 


473] 


CHANGES   IN    TENURE 


79 


Percentage  of 
Farm  Acreage 
Operand  Under 
Lease  by  Tenants 

and     Port 
Owners 

Illinois 


Legend 
i— il    Data  lacking 

: : '.  :|    5.0  to  14.9 

IIIIH     15.0  to  24.9 
y^     25.0   to  34.9 
^^     35.0   to  44.9 
^g    45.0   to  54.9 
55.0    to   64.9 
65.0    to  74.9 
75.0    to   84.9 


80  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [474 

products  and  of  farm  property.  To  a  large  extent  tenancy  has 
been  increased  and  operation  by  owners  diminished  by  the 
changes  in  these  accompanying  conditions.  The  rate  of  increase 
in  tenancy  has  been  augmented,  no  doubt,  by  the  declining  rate 
of  increase  in 'the  farm  area.  The  rate  of  increase  in  tenancy 
has  been  less  than  the  increase  in  the  value  per  acre  of  pro- 
ducts and  of  land,  and  greater  than  the  increase  in  the  average 
size  of  farms. 

Considering  both  sectional  and  historical  aspects  of  tenancy 
growth  in  Illinois  it  seems  to  the  writer  that  the  extent,  distri- 
bution and  growth  of  land  leasing  is  best  explained  in  terms  of 
the  purchasing  power  of  the  rental  income  of  the  farms.  The 
ability  of  an  owner  to  retire  from  the  operation  of  a  farm  is 
not  to  be  measured  solely  in  all  cases  by  his  income  from  that 
farm.  He  may  have  other  income-bearing  property,  although, 
so  far  as  farm  property  is  concerned  it  is  fair  to  say  that  the 
representative  holding  is  one  farm.58  Again  he  may  have  income 
from  some  supplementary  occupation,  although  this  condition 
•does  not  seem  to  characterize  any  great  number  of  retired  farm- 
ers. Landlords  whose  ownership  of  land  is  incidental  to  their 
careers  in  non-agricultural  lines  are  somewhat  numerous  in 
•some  parts  of  the  state.  After  allowing  for  these  exceptions, 
it  is  probable  that  the  purchasing  power  of  the  rental  income  of  a 
farm  is  the  main  factor  in  determining  whether  the  owner  rents 
his  place  to  a  tenant  or  farms  it  himself. 

The  rental  income  of  a  farm  is,  of  course,  only  the  land- 
lord's share  of  the  economic  rent  of  the  place. 

The  tenant's  portion  of  this  annual  surplus  of  returns  from 
cultivation  over  costs  is  probably  subject  to  less  variation  in 
absolute  value  than  the  landlord's  portion.  This  means  that  the 
tenant's  share  in  the  surplus  is  probably  smaller,  relatively, 
when  the  surplus  is  large,  and  smaller,  absolutely,  when  the 
surplus  is  small.  The  possibility  a  tenant  has  of  saving  is  prob- 
ably greater  where  the  kind  of  farming  operations  he  engages  in 
is  such  as  to  place  a  premium  upon  diversified  knowledge,  oper- 
ating capital  and  managerial  ability.59  Such  a  condition  pre- 
vails more  especially  in  Northern  Illinois.  In  Central  Illinois 
the  farming  method  does  not  require  such  diversification  of 


58See  below,  p.  76. 

59See   Stewart,   C.  L.,  An  Analysis  of  Rural  Banking  Conditions  in 
Illinois,  19,  20. 


475]  CHANGES  IN   TENURE  81 

technical  knowledge,  and  competition  for  farms  to  rent  is  espe- 
cially severe.60  In  Southern  Illinois  the  surplus  of  operations 
and  the  acreage  per  farm  are  both  small.  In  Southern  Illinois 
tenancy  has  undergone  very  little  change;  in  Central  Illinois 
it  has  been  highest  and  increasing  somewhat ;  while  in  Northern 
Illinois  it  has  been  increasing  at  a  rapid  rate.  In  Northern 
Illinois  the  prosperity  of  tenants  appears  to  have  been  responsi- 
ble for  their  tendency  to  multiply  in  numbers,  while  in-  Southern 
Illinois  the  opportunity  for  tenants  to  rent  seems  to  have  been 
restricted.  In  the  prairie  district  of  the  state  tenancy  has  prob- 
ably been  stimulated  by  the  higher  rental  income  per  owner, 
which  has  not  only  freed  owners  from  the  necessity  of  oper- 
ation, but  has  caused  the  land  to  be  capitalized  at  such  a  low 
rate  that  the  tenants  are  not  able  profitably  to  own  farms. 

To  summarize,  it  appears  that  the  forms  of  tenure  have  been 
phases  accompanying,  limited  by  and  modifying  the  conditions 
and  changes  in  the  agricultural  economy  of  the  state.  The  pre- 
valence, sectional  character  and  growth  of  farming  by  tenant 
operators  is  chiefly  governed  by  the  real  value  of  the  shares  of 
the  owners  and  tenants  in  the  surplus  of  operation.  Tenancy 
forms  a  sort  of  cumulative  index  'of  the  effectiveness  of  the  desire 
of  the  owners  to  escape  the  operation  of  their  land,  and  of  the 
ineffectiveness  of  the  desire  of  tenants  to  become  owners. 

60For  several  years  nearly  all  news  items  in  Chicago  papers  relating 
to  cases  where  from  25  to  50  bids  were  made  for  farms  offered  for  rent 
came  from  towns  in  Central  Illinois. 


CHAPTER  IV 

A  DESCRIPTION  OP  FARM  OPERATORS  IN  ILLINOIS 

The  farm  operators  of  Illinois  are,  with  few  exceptions, 
heads  of  families  residing  on  the  farms.  In  1890  the  number  of 
farm  operators  was  240,681,  of  whom  158,848,  or  66.0  per  cent, 
operated  as  owners.1  At  that  date  252,953  farm  families  were 
reported,  of  whom  160,065,  or  63.3  per  cent,  resided  on  farms 
owned  by  them.2  In  1900  the  number  of  farm  operators  was 
264,151,  of  whom  158,503,  or  60.0  per  cent,  were  owners,  103,698 
tenants,  and  2,413  "owners  and  tenants".  The  number  of  farm 
families  was  262,388,3  of  whom  158,496,  or  60.4  per  cent,  owned 
farms  and  101,817  hired.  The  almost  exact  correspondence  in 
these  data  affords  sufficient  evidence  that  in  1890  and  1900  the 
normal  Illinois  farm  was  a  "family  farm".  There  is  no  reason 
for  believing  that  statistics  taken  later  would  show  any  change 
in  this  condition. 

THE  BASIS  OF  RENTING 

The  tenants  of  Illinois  may  be  described  more  conveniently 
after  dividing  them  into  classes  according  to  the  basis  on  which 
they  rent.  The  following  table  summarizes  the  census  data  on 
this  point. 

The  period,  1880  to  1890,  during  which  the  total  number  of 
tenants  underwent  only  a  slight  increase,  was  the  decade  of 
greatest  readjustment  of  terms  between  the  tenants  and  land- 
lords. The  number  of  share  tenants  declined  6,973,  or  11.7  per 
cent,  while  the  number  of  cash  tenants  increased  8,562,  or  41.5 
per  cent.  The  percentage  of  all  tenants  renting  on  shares  fell 
from  74.3  in  1880  to  64.3  in  1890.  The  tendency  continued, 
though  much  abated,  until  1900,  when  63.2  per  cent  of  the  tenant 
farms  were  rented  on  shares.  In  1910  there  were  23,665  farms 
rented  on  a  basis  combining  the  share  and  cash  principles.  All 
these  are  here  counted  as  share  tenant  farms,  though  it  is  probable 

1  Census,  1900,  V,  Ixix. 

2The  number  of  families  residing  on  hired  farms  exceeded  the  num- 
ber of  farms  operated  by  tenants  by  11,055.  It  is  possible  that  this  was 
due  to  the  reporting  of  some  laborers  hiring  homes,  or  of  some  man- 
agers and  owners  occupying  homes  on  land  belonging  to  a  tenant  farm. 

3Unknown,  2,075. 

82 


477] 


DESCRIPTION   OF    OPERATORS 


83 


THE  NUMBER  OF  ALL  TENANTS,  SHARE  AND  SHARE-CASH  TENANTS,  AND  OP 
CASH  AND  UNSPECIFIED  TENANTS,  THE  PERCENTAGE  OF  ALL  TENANTS  IN 
EACH  GROUP,  AND  THE  PERCENTAGE  OF  INCREASE  OR  DECREASE  IN  THd 
NUMBER  IN  EACH  GROUP  OVER  THE  PRECEDING  CENSUS,  ILLINOIS,  l88o- 

1910.* 


Census 
date 

Total 

Cash  and 
unspecified 

Share  and 
share-cash 

Percentage 

Cash, 
etc. 

Share, 
etc. 

Number 

Inc. 

Number 

Inc. 

Number 

Inc. 

1910 
1900 
1890 
1880 

104,379 
103,698 
81,833 
80.244 

0.7 
26.7 

2.O 

37,i63 
38,173 
29,182 
20.620 

—  2.65 

30.8 

41-5 

67,21  66 

65,525 
52,651 
W.624 

2.6 

24-5 
--H.75 

35-6 
36.8 
35-7 

25.7 

64.4 
63.2 
64-3 

74.3 

that  a  part  of  the  farms  rented  in  1900  on  the  combined  share 
and  cash  basis  were  then  counted  as  cash  tenant  farms.  To  the 
extent  that  share-cash  tenants  were  classified  as  cash  tenants  in 
1900,  less  significance  is  to  be  attached  to  the  decrease  from  36.8 
to  35.6  between  1900  and  1910  in  the  percentage  of  farms  rented 
for  cash.7 

In  1880  there  were  only  6  counties  in  the  state  in  which  the 
percentage  of  tenants  renting  for  cash  exceeded  50.  All  of  them 
were  in  the  Northern  division  of  the  state.  In  1890  there  were  21 
such  counties,  13  in  the  Northern  division  and  8  in  the  Central 
division.  In  1900  the  number  of  counties  in  which  cash  renting 
predominated  was  24,  19  being  in  the  Northern  and  5  in  the 
Central  part.  In  1910  the  number  of  such  counties  fell  to  15, 
all  of  them  being  in  Northern  Illinois.  In  1880  there  were  48 
counties  in  which  the  percentage  of  farms  rented  for  cash  was 
under  20,  27  were  in  Southern  Illinois,  20  in  Central  and  1  in 
Northern  Illinois.  In  1890  the  number  of  such  counties  was  33, 
in  1900,  35,  and  in  1910,  45.  At  the  last  date  36  of  the  counties 

4Census,  1910,  V,  124,  and  VI,  438. 

5Minus  sign   ( — )   denotes  decrease. 

623,665,  or  35.5  per  cent,  were  share-cash. 

7Moreover,  the  districts  of  the  state  in  which  the  greatest  decline  took 
place  from  1900  to  1910  in  the  percentage  of  farms  rented  for  cash  were 
the  districts  in  which  the  percentage  of  other  than  cash  tenants  renting  on 
the  share-cash  basis  was  the  highest  in  1910.  Suggestion,  at  least,  is  thus 
given  that  the  apparent  decline  in  the  relative  prominence  of  cash  tenancy 
is  due  to  the  classification  of  some  tenants  as  share-cash  tenants  in  1910 
who  in  1900  would  have  been  counted  as  cash  tenants. 


84 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[478 


Percentage  of  N^ 
Tenant  Farm  5 
Rented  lorCash 
Xllinois 
WO 


Census 

mo 

Vo/  VI. 


479]  DESCRIPTION   OF   OPERATORS  85 

were  in  Southern  Illinois,  and  the  remainder  in  Central  Illinois. 

Cash  tenancy  was  relatively  most  prominent,  therefore,  in 
Northern  Illinois,  and  least  prominent  in  Southern  Illinois. 
Since  1900  cash  renting  appears  to  have  declined  in  relative 
prominence  in  each  division  of  the  state.  Share-cash  tenancy 
was  most  prominent,  compared  with  all  tenancy  other  than  cash, 
in  the  counties  of  Central  Illinois  and  the  old  prairie  district.8 

The  reasons  for  this  sectional  difference  will  appear  as  the 
farms  and  farm  practice  of  the  various  kinds  of  operators  are 
described. 

THE   ACREAGE    OPERATED 

The  method  used  by  the  census  in  presenting  data  on  the 
size  of  farms  of  various  tenures  has  undergone  a  change.  For 
1880  and  1890  the  data  are  given  for  owners,  cash  tenants,  and 
share  tenants  by  acreage-groups.  In  1900  the  acreage-groups 
are  continued  and  the  farms  formerly  considered  as  those  of 
owners  are  itemized  into  four  classes.  In  1910  the  acreage-group 
data  were  not  classified  by  various  tenures.  In  both  1900 
and  1910  the  total  acreages  are  given,  so  that  averages  can  be 
calculated  for  farms  of  the  several  forms  of  tenure. 

The  first  table  shows  for  the  tenth,  eleventh,  and  twelfth 
census  enumerations  the  percentage  of  farms  belonging  to  the 
various  size-groups  that  was  operated  under  each  of  the  several 
forms  of  tenure. 

The  farms  of  owners  constituted  a  smaller  percentage  of  all 
farms  at  the  later  census  dates,  and  the  farms  of  tenants  made  up 
a  correspondingly  increasing  percentage.  The  farms  under  50 
acres  were  operated  by  owners  to  a  larger  extent  in  1890  than 
in  1880,  and  those  between  50  and  100  underwent  only  a  slight 
increase  in  percentage  of  tenancy.  The  farms  having  between 
100  and  500  acres  and  those  having  between  500  and  1000  acres 
were  rented  to  a  much  larger  degree  in  1900  than  at  previous 
dates.  The  same  movement  toward  tenant  operation  prevailed  in 
the  case  of  the  farms  over  1000  acres  in  size,  though  at  a  less  rapid 
rate  than  in  the  case  of  the  farms  having  between  500  and  1000 
acres. 

The  percentage  of  farms  operated  by  tenants  in  1900  was 
highest  in  the  farms  between  100  and  175  acres  in  size,  with 
those  10  to  20  acres  next,  and  those  100  to  499  acres  third.  Own- 
ership was  most  prevalent  in  the  farms  exceeding  500  acres, 

8Census,  1910,  VI,  438,  447- 


86 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[480 


PERCENTAGE   OF   FARMS    OF    SPECIFIED   SIZES    OPERATED   UNDER    SPECIFIED    FORMS 
OF    TENURE,    ILLINOIS,    l88o-IOOO.9 


Farms 
of 
all 
sizes 

Less 
than 

IO 

acres11 

IO 

to 

19 

acres 

20 
to 

49 
acres 

50 
to 

99 

acres 

IOO 

to 
499 
acres12 

500 

to 

999 
acres 

IOOO 

acres 
and 
over 

Own- 

ers10 

IOOO13 

60.7 

64-5 

58-4 

62.5 

61.6 

59-5 

75-3 

81.9 

1800 

66.0 

69.2 

64.0 

67.0 

64.3 

66.3 

81.9 

84.6 

1880 

68.6 

65.1 

54-5 

58.8 

65.1 

74-8 

87-7 

89.8 

All 

tenants 

1900 

39-3 

35-6 

41-5 

37-5 

38.4 

40.5 

24.6 

18.1 

1890 

34-0 

30.8 

36.0 

33-0 

35-7 

33-7 

18.1 

15-4 

1880 

3i-4 

34-9 

45-5 

41.2 

34-9 

24.6 

12.3 

IO.I 

Cash 

i 

tenants 

1900 

14-5 

24.0 

16.2 

IO.I 

13-2 

iS-7 

7-5 

6.4 

1890 

12.  1 

18.6 

15.4 

8.9 

12.4 

12.7 

5-9 

7.0 

1880 

8.1 

16.5 

13-1 

8-4 

8.4 

7-1 

4-7 

2.9 

Share 

tenants 

1900 

24.8 

n.6 

25.3 

274 

25.2 

24.8 

17.1 

11.7 

1800 

21.9 

12.2 

2O.6 

24.1 

23-3 

2I.O 

12.2 

8-4 

1880 

23-3 

18.4 

32.4 

32-9 

26.5 

17-5 

7-6 

7.2 

followed  by  those  under  3  acres. 

It  is  evident  that  the  farms  of  medium  size  were  most  cul- 
tivated by  tenants,  while  the  farms  extraordinarily  large  and 
small  were  most  characterized  by  operation  by  owners.  It  is  a 
favorable  comment  on  the  ability  of  tenants  to  carry  on  large 
scale  farming  that  such  a  large  number  of  the  farms  over  500 
acres  are  tenant  farms,  and  that  renting  of  the  large  farms  was 

9Census,  1910,  V,  124;  1900,  V,  48;  1890,  Agriculture,  118,  119;  and 
1880,  Agriculture,  26-29. 

"Including  owners  proper,  part  owners,  owners  and  tenants,  and 
managers. 

"Data  is  given  for  two  subsidiary  groups,  less  than  3  acres,  and  3  to  9 
acres  in  1900  and  1880. 

12Data  is  given  for  three  subsidiary  groups,  100  to  174  acres,  175  to 
259  acres,  and  260  to  399  acres  in  1900. 

13Data  is  given  separately  for  owners  proper,  part  owners,  owners 
and  tenants,  and  managers  in  1900. 


481] 


DESCRIPTION    OF    OPERATORS 


87 


increasing  relatively  faster  than  renting  of  either  medium  or 
small  farms.  On  the  other  hand,  this  implies  that  the  owners 
of  large  farms,  though  still  commonly  operating  their  farms  in 
1900,  were  giving  up  personal  operation  relatively  faster  than 
owners  of  smaller  farms.  The  large  farms  are  most  inaccessible 
to  tenants  with  the  objective  of  ownership,  and,  except  as  divis- 
ion through  inheritance  takes  place,  their  owners  ought  to  be 
well  able  to  prevent  their  disintegration. 

The  percentage  of  all  farms  operated  by  cash  tenants  nearly 
doubled  between  1880  and  1890,  while  that  of  share  tenants  re- 
mained the  same.  Among  the  farms  having  under  100  acres  the 
percentage  of  farms  operated  by  share  tenants  was  decreasing 
and  the  percentage  operated  by  cash  tenants  was  increasing 
between  1880  and  1900,  and  in  the  case  of  the  farms  between 
100  and  500  acres  and  those  over  1000  acres,  cash  tenancy  was 
increasing  more  rapidly  than  share  tenancy.  The  trend  in 
tenancy  among  the  farms  between  500  and  1000  acres  was  toward 
the  share  basis.  As  pointed  out  previously,1*  exclusively  cash 
tenancy  was  not  so  prevalent  in  1910,  as  was  so-called  "cash" 
tenancy  in  1900. 

A  notion  of  the  amount  of  land  operated  by  operators  of 
various  classes  can  be  obtained  from  the  following  table. 

THE  AVERAGE  NUMBER  OF  ACRES  PER  FARM  OF  VARIOUS  KINDS  OF  OPERATORS, 
AND  THE  ABSOLUTE  AND  RELATIVE  INCREASE  IN  THE  SAME,  ILLINOIS, 
IQOO-IQIO.13 


Tenure 

designation 

Censu 
1910 

s  date 
1900 

Increase  in 
acreage 
1900-1910 

Percentage 
of 
increase 

All  operators  

129.1 

124.2 

I            4-9 

4.0 

Tenants  

135.8 

122.2 

13.6 

II.2 

Cash   

124.2 

Share 

I2I.O 

Managers    



2'U.o 

233.0 

I.I 

0.5 

Owners  and  part 

owners 

122.6 

124.1 

—  1.5 

—  1.2 

Owners   proper 

133.8 

118.9 

—5-1 

—4-3 

Part  owners  .... 

147.5 

142.9 

4-6 

3-2 

Owned  

83.7 

79.9 

3-7 

47 

Leased   

63.9 

63.0 

0.9 

1.4 

Owners  and  tenants 

I59-I 

14See  above,  p.  83. 

15Census,  1900,  V,  8;  and  table,  above,  p.  45. 


88  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [482 

The  lack  of  acreage-group  data  in  1910  makes  it  impossible 
to  pursue  this  phase  of  the  study  with  accuracy  after  1900. 

In  1900  the  average  size  of  all  farms  was  124.2  acres.  Cash 
tenant  farms  and  those  of  owners,  including  part  owners,  were 
almost  exactly  the  same  in  average  acreage  as  those  of  all  tenures. 
Share  tenants  and  owners  proper  operated  smaller  farms  on  the 
average.  The  largest  farms  were  those  of  managers,  which  aver- 
aged nearly  twice  as  large  as  the  farms  operated  by  owners 
proper.  Part  owners  owned  84  acres  and  hired  64  on  the  aver- 
age. Owners  and  tenants  co-operating  operated  farms  of  159 
acres. 

In  1910  data  are  lacking  for  cash  and  share  tenants  and 
for  owners  and  tenants  co-operating.  The  average  acreage  for 
all  farms  increased  4.0,  and  an  increase  in  average  acreage  took 
place  in  both  the  owned  and  leased  portions  of  the  farms  of  part 
owners,  in  the  farms  of  managers,  and  tenants.  In  the  case  of 
managed  farms  the  increase  was  slight  while  in  the  case  of 
tenants  it  was  most  pronounced,  being  13.6  acres.  The  farms 
of  owners  proper  lost  5  acres,  on  the  average. 

Ownership  has  been  declining  and  tenancy  increasing  in 
the  districts  of  larger  farms.  This  accounts  in  the  main  for  the 
apparent  increase  in  the  size  of  tenant  farms.  There  seems  to 
be  little  tendency  for  the  average  tenant  farm  to  increase  in 
size  in  any  large  part  of  the  state. 

THE  EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  VARIOUS  OPERATORS 

The  data  on  farm  equipment  are  not  complete,  but  such 
as  are  available  are  presented  in  the  next  few  pages. 

The  percentage  of  farm  land  improved  in  all  Illinois  farms, 
was  86.2  in  1910  and  84.5  in  1900.  The  tenants  operated  farms 
consisting  most  largely  of  improved  land,16  and  the  farms  of  man- 
agers had  the  smallest  percentage  of  improved  land.17 

The  next  table  shows  the  value  of  various  items  of  farm 
property  in  the  case  of  farms  operated  under  different  forms  of 
tenure. 


16The  percentage  of  tenant  farm  land  improved  in  1910  was  88.8 
and  in  1900,  87.8,  as  against  corresponding  percentages  of  84.5  and  82.6 
for  the  land  owners.  See  Census,  1910,  V,  130. 

17The  percentage  was  76.7  in  1910  'and  74.4  in  1900.  See  Census, 
1910,  V,  130. 


483] 


DESCRIPTION   OF    OPERATORS 


89 


Land  and  buildings  constituted  88.3  per  cent  of  the  value 
of  all  farm  property  in  1900  and  90.2  per  cent  in  1910.  All 
items  of  farm  property  underwent  a  rise  in  value  between  1900 
and  1910.  In  the  case  of  buildings  this  was  probably  due  in 
some  measure  to  better  improvement  of  the  farms,  but  to  a  greater 
degree,  perhaps,  to  the  rise  in  the  value  of  building  materials, 
and  to  a  general  tendency  to  value  buildings  higher  because  a 
higher  value  was  being  placed  on  other  items  of  farm  property. 
Implements  and  machinery  and  livestock  also  had  higher  value 
per  farm  and  per  acre  in  1910  than  in  1900.  In  the  case  of 
implements  and  machinery  the  rise  in  value  is  probably  due  to  the 
utilization  of  more  expensive  types.  The  value  of  live  stock  has 

AVERAGE  VALUE  IN  DOLLARS  OF  ALL  FARM  PROPERTY  AND  OF  THE  SEVERAL 
CLASSES,  CLASSIFIED  ACCORDING  TO  THE  MAJOR  TENURE  GROUPS,18  ILLINOIS, 
IQIO  AND  1900. 19 


All  tenures 

Owners 

Managers 

Tenants 

1910 

1900 

1910 

1900 

1910 

1900 

1910 

1900 

All  farm 

property 

Per  farm 

15,505 

7,588 

13,667 

7,203 

30,269 

17,005 

17,719 

7,999 

Per  acre 

120.04 

61.12 

111.51 

58.03 

129.28 

72.99 

120.45 

65.48 

Land  and 

buildings 

Per  farm 

13,986 

6,684 

12,170 

6,258 

27,246 

14,833 

16,205 

7,182 

Per  acre 

108.32 

53.84 

99.29 

50.42 

116.41 

63-65 

H9-33 

58.78 

Land 

Per  farm 

12,269 

5,732 

10,363 

5,220 

23,682 

13,004 

14,655 

6,377 

Per  acre 

95-01 

46.17 

84.55 

42.06 

101.18 

55-82 

107.91 

52.20 

Buildings 

Per  farm 

1,716 

952 

1,806 

1,038 

3,563 

1,829 

i,550 

804 

Per  acre 

13-30 

7.67 

14-73 

8.36 

15-22 

7.85 

11.41 

6.58 

Imple- 

ments and 

machinery 

Per  farm 

293 

170 

285 

170 

533 

246 

298 

177 

Per  acre 

2.27 

1-37 

2.32 

1.38 

2.28 

1.  06 

2.2O 

1-37 

Livestock 

Per  farm 

1,226 

734 

1,213 

773 

2,488 

1,928 

1,214 

650 

Per  acre 

949 

5.9i 

9.90 

6.23 

10.63 

9.27 

8.94 

5-32 

18Data  for  the  minor  tenure  groups  are  given  for  1900.    See  Census, 
1900,  V,  149. 

19Census,  1910,  V,  130,  134;  VI,  413;  and  1900,  V,  149,  252. 


90  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [484 

risen  not  so  much  because  of  increase  in  the  number  of  animals 
as  in  the  value  per  head. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  value  of  the  property  in  man- 
aged farms  averaged  highest  in  value  at  both  census  dates,  and 
the  value  per  acre  of  the  farm  property  of  managers  was  greater 
than  that  of  either  owners  or  tenants  in  1900.  In  1910,  however, 
the  highest  average  value  per  acre  of  farm  property  was  attached 
to  the  farms  operated  by  tenants.  In  the  value  of  buildings, 
managed  farms  had  the  highest  average  per  farm  in  1900  and 
per  acre  as  well  as  per  farm  in  1910.  The  value  of  buildings  on 
rented  farms  was  lower  than  on  other  farms  both  per  acre  and 
per  farm  in  1900  and  1910.  The  value  of  implements  and  ma- 
chinery per  acre  was  greatest  on  the  farms  of  owners  at  both 
dates  and  in  1910  least  on  those  of  tenants.  The  farms  on  which 
live  stock  reached  the  largest  average  value  per  acre  and  per 
farm  were  the  farms  of  managers.  On  the  farms  of  tenants  the 
value  of  live  stock  was  less  than  on  the  farms  of  any  other  kind 
of  farm  operator. 

The  statistics  for  1900  show  the  value  of  property  to  be 
much  different  when  farms  are  rented  for  cash  than  when  rented 
on  shares.  The  value  of  all  farm  property  per  acre  in  1900  was 
greater  in  the  case  of  cash  tenants  than  in  the  case  of  farmers 
of  any  other  tenure.  In  value  of  buildings  per  acre  cash  tenant 
farms  were  somewhat  above  the  average,  while  the  average  value 
of  buildings  per  acre  in  this  case  of  share  tenant  farms  was  less 
than  in  the  case  of  farms  of  any  other  form  of  tenure,  being  40 
per  cent  less  than  on  cash  rented  farms.  The  value  of  imple- 
ments and  machinery  per  acre  was  greater  in  the  case  of  cash 
tenant  farms  than  in  that  of  farms  of  any  other  tenure.  The 
value  of  live  stock  per  acre  was  above  the  average  on  the  farms 
of  cash  tenants  and  least  in  the  case  of  the  share  tenant  farms. 

The  various  classes  of  operators  differ  somewhat  in  the 
extent  to  which  they  keep  different  kinds  of  animals  on  their 
farms. 

Over  90  per  cent  of  Illinois  farms  in  1910  were  reported 
to  have  domestic  animals,  poultry,  cattle,  dairy  cows,  and  horses.20 
Domestic  animals,  poultry,  bees,  dairy  cows,  horses,  and  swine 
were  reported  for  a  smaller  percentage  of  managed  farms  and  a 
larger  percentage  of  owned  farms  than  of  tenant  farms.  Mules 
were  reported  by  a  larger  percentage  of  managers  than  of  oper- 
ators of  other  tenure.  Only  in  the  case  of  horses  and  mules 

20Census,  1910,  V,  130,  142,  146. 


485]  DESCRIPTION    OP    OPERATORS  91 

did  the  percentage  of  owners  reporting  them  fail  to  exceed  the 
corresponding  percentage  in  the  case  of  other  operators. 

Domestic  animals  were  distributed  among  the  various  classes 
of  operators  in  very  much  the  same  proportion  as  the  number 
of  farms  and  acres  of  farm  land.21  Between  1900  and  1910  the 
value  of  domestic  animals  on  the  farms  of  tenants  increased  at 
a  much  more  rapid  rate  than  on  the  farms  of  owners.  Poultry 
and  bees  averaged  higher  in  value  on  the  farms  of  owners  than 
on  the  farms  of  other  classes  of  operators. 

The  value  of  other  than  dairy  cattle  was  largest  on  the  farms 
of  owners,22  while  the  values  of  dairy  cows  were  distributed 
among  the  operators  of  different  tenures  more  nearly  according 
to  the  distribution  of  farms  and  acreages.  Judging  from  the 
values  reported  horses  were  distributed  in  almost  exactly  the 
same  proportions  as  the  improved  acreage.  Mules  were  evidently 
employed  to  an  extraordinarily  large  extent  by  managers.  Asses 
and  burros,  sheep  and  swine  were  kept  by  the  operating  owners 
to  a  disproportionately  high  degree.  In  swine,  however,  the  ten- 
ants had  values  approaching  their  share. 

It  appears  that  in  the  case  of  all  animals  but  sheep  the  most 
valuable  stock  was  on  the  managed  farms.23  Operating  owners 
possessed  the  most  valuable  sheep,  but  in  the  case  of  all  other 
animals  the  value  of  their  stock  per  head  was  even  less  than 
that  of  tenants. 

SOME  ITEMS  OF  INCOME  AND  EXPENDITURE 

Data  were  gathered  at  the  twelfth  census  showing  for  the 
various  classes  of  operators  the  value  of  the  products  of  1899 
and  the  average  expenditures  for  labor  and  fertilizers.24  The 
value  of  products  per  farm  was  highest  in  the  case  of  managed 
farms  and  lowest  in  the  case  of  farms  of  share  tenants.  On 
the  basis  of  values  per  acre,  however,  cash  tenants  held  first  rank, 
and  co-operating  owners  and  tenants  made  the  least  showing. 
Managers  fed  to  live  stock  a  larger  value  of  products  per  farm 
and  per  acre  than  other  operators.  Share  tenants  fed  the  least 
on  either  basis  of  comparison. 

Co-operating  owners  and  tenants  by  furnishing  their  own 
labor  were  enabled  to  cut  down  the  labor  expenditures  to  $.50 


21Census,  1910,  V,  142,  150,  and  VI,  414- 
"Census,  1910,  V,  150,  153. 
23Census,  1910,  V,  153. 
24Census,  1900,  V,  149,  232. 


92  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [486 

per  acre,  the  least  of  any  class  of  operators.  Managers  expended 
the  most  per  acre,  $1.46.  The  expenditure  for  fertilizers  was  so 
small  that  comparisons  are  of  little  value.  It  seems,  however, 
that  in  1899  the  expenditure  for  fertilizers  was  least  in  the 
case  of  farms  operated  by  share  tenants. 

Statistics  are  presented  in  the  Census  to  show  the  tenden- 
cies prevalent  among  operators  of  different  tenures  in  raising 
products  for  the  market  in  1899.25 

Owners  operated  less  than  their  proportion  of  the  farms 
whose  values  of  products  not  fed  to  live  stock  were  under  $100 
and  over  $1,000.  Owners  and  tenants,  and  part  owners  operated 
less  than  their  share  of  the  farms  with  values  of  unfed  products 
under  $250,  and  more  than  their  share  of  the  farms  in  the  other 
value-groups.  The  managed  farms  were  heavily  concentrated 
in  the  groups  having  no  unfed  products  and  in  all  value-groups 
under  $1000.  Cash  tenants  showed  a  somewhat  similar  tendency. 
Share  tenants,  however,  operated  more  than  their  proportion  of 
the  farms  with  unfed  products  valued  at  more  than  $1000,  as  well 
as  of  the  farms  with  values  of  unfed  products  less  than  $250. 

These  data  must  be  interpreted  with  due  allowance  for  a 
number  of  other  factors.  The  size  of  farms  has  much  to  do  with 
the  valuableness  of  the  products  raised.  Small  farms  and  very 
large  farms  are  operated  by  owners  to  a  greater  degree  than  are 
farms  of  medium  size.  The  figures  employed  here,  moreover,  are 
not  based  on  values  of  all  products  raised,  but  only  of  those  pro- 
ducts not  fed  to  livestock  on  the  farms  raising  them.  Farms 
raising  products  which  are  fed  to  livestock  are  certainly  not,  for 
that  reason,  less  productive  of  value.  Finally,  it  would  be  use- 
less and  unfair  to  make  deductions  from  such  data  as  to  the 
relative  efficiency  of  the  various  classes  of  operators. 

EMPHASIS  IN  FARM  PRACTICE 

Statistical  evidence  on  the  relation  of  farm  tenure  to  var- 
ious types  of  farming  practice  relates  only  to  1899.  The  census 
of  1900  classified  farms  according  to  the  principal  source  of 
income  as  shown  by  the  productions  of  the  preceding  year. 
Changes  have  doubtless  occurred  since  1899  both  in  the  number 
of  farms  having  the  specified  productions  as  their  principal 
source  of  income  and  in  the  percentage  of  farms  in  each  pro- 
duction group  operated  by  the  various  classes  of  operators.  The 
following  table  summarizes  the  data  gathered  in  1900  so  far 
as  related  to  Illinois. 

25Census,  1900,  V,  35. 


487] 


DESCRIPTION    OF    OPERATORS 


93 


CLASSIFICATION   BY   TENURE  OF  FARMS    WITH   SPECIFIED  PRINCIPAL   SOURCES    OF 
INCOME,  ILLINOIS,   iSpQ.26 


Principal 
source  of 
income 

Number 
of 
farms 

Percentage  of  farms  operated  by 

Own- 
ers 

Part 
owners 

Owners 
and  ten- 
ants 

Man- 
agers 

Cash 
tenants 

Share 
ten- 
ants 

All  farms   

264,151 
107,020 
6,656 
2,411 

H3,674 
15,602 

138 
60 

499 
126 

1  7.o6=? 

46.1 
33-3 
38.4 
67.3 
56.7 
50.3 
39-9 
40.0 

74-7 
84.9 
=;o.2 

13-0 
12.3 
10.9 

IO.I 

14-5 
7-9 
22.5 

16.7 

5-8 
7-9 
n.6 

0.9 

0.7 

0.5 
0.7 

1.2 

o.S 
0.8 

1.2 

0.7 
0.7 
0.5 

i-7 
0.8 
0.9 
0.7 
1-7 
3-8 
2.4 
0.6 

14-5 
18.1 

35-9 
8.4 
9.1 

24-5 
12.3 
13-3 
14.6 
4-0 

IO.7 

24.8 
34-9 
137 
11.7 
17.8 

iS-9 
24.6 
28.3 

O.2 

0.8 

^8 

Hay  and  grain 

Vegetables 

Fruits   

Livestock  

Dairy   produce  

Tobacco  

Sugar   . 

Flowers  and  plants 
Nursery  products- 
Miscellaneous  .. 

Hay  and  grain  farming  was  carried  on  with  greatest 
emphasis  by  the  tenants,  particularly  the  share  tenants,  while 
owners  operated  much  less  than  their  proportionate  number  of 
such  farms.  Owners  operated  less  than  their  share  of  the  farms 
producing  vegetables  as  their  main  crop.  Tenants  operated 
nearly  half  of  the  vegetable  farms,  and  over  two-thirds  of  those 
rented  were  on  the  cash  basis.  Fruit  farms  were  operated  chiefly 
by  owners  and  managers,  the  tenants  being  in  charge  of  only 
about  half  their  proportionate  share.  Farmers  specializing  in 
livestock  were  usually  owners  of  their  places.  All  classes  of  oper- 
ators except  tenants  showed  a  leaning  toward  live  stock  farming. 
The  latter  were  in  charge  of  only  two-thirds  of  their  pro- 
portionate share  of  these  farms.  The  renting  of  live  stock  farms 
inclined  toward  the  share  basis.  The  owners  proper,  managers 
and  tenants  operated  dairy  farms  with  somewhat  greater  empha- 
sis than  their  relative  numbers  would  indicate.  As  in  the  case 
of  vegetable  farms  cash  tenancy  was  much  more  prevalent  than 
share  tenancy.  The  tobacco  and  sugar  farms  were  largely  oper- 
ated by  part  owners.  Farms  raising  flowers,  plants  and  nursery 
products  were  operated  mainly  by  owners  and  managers.  So  far 
as  such  farms  were  rented  it  was  almost  exclusively  on  the  cash 
basis.  The  farms  whose  principal  source  of  income  was  miscel- 
laneous need  not  be  regarded  as  farms  on  which  productions  were 
diversified.  They  are  simply  those  whose  principal  source  of 

26Census,  1900,  V,  9. 


94  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [488 

income  was  some  production  other  than  those  listed.    The  tenure 
of  such  farms  has  no  peculiarities  worth  discussing. 

The  part  played  by  owners  in  the  operation  of  farms  special- 
izing in  the  different  crops  is  much  the  same  in  Illinois  as  in  the 
country  as  a  whole.27  One  exception  is  that  of  vegetable  farms, 
60.4  per  cent  of  which  are  owned  by  the  operators  in  the  United 
States,  as  against  a  percentage  of  38.4  in  Illinois.  Operation 
by  owners  is  somewhat  more  prevalent  among  farms  raising 
nursery  products  in  Illinois  than  in  the  whole  country.  The 
place  occupied  by  part  owners  is  more  prominent  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  tobacco  farms  in  Illinois  than  in  the  country  as  a  whole, 
although  in  the  case  of  farms  raising  nursery  products  the  oppo- 
site holds  true.  The  prominence  of  managers  in  the  operation 
of  sugar  farms  which  is  characteristic  of  the  United  States  as  a 
whole  does  not -stand  out  as  a  feature  of  the  few  sugar  farms 
of  Illinois.  The  tenants  of  Illinois  follow  very  much  the  same 
types  of  farming  as  those  in  the  rest  of  the  country,  except  that 
farms  raising  dairy  produce  are  rented  to  a  greater  extent  on 
the  cash  basis  in  Illinois. 

The  twelfth  census  also  supplied  data  for  ten  important 
crops  showing  the  number  of  farms  reporting,  the  number  of 
acres  raised  and  the  number  of  bushels  harvested  in  1899. 28 
The  results  of  a  study  of  these  data  are  summarized  in  the  fol- 
lowing paragraphs. 

Corn  was  raised  by  almost  every  farmer  in  the  state  in  1899. 
Irish  potatoes  and  hay  and  forage  were  cultivated  by  two 
farmers  in  three,  and  oats  by  three  in  five.  The  share  tenants, 
owners  and  tenants,  and  part  owners  raised  corn  to  an  extent 
greater  than  the  average.  Oats  was  more  widely  raised  by  the 
cash  tenants  and  part  owners ;  wheat,  buckwheat,  Irish  potatoes, 
sweet  potatoes,  hay  and  forage  by  part  owners  and  by  owners 
and  tenants.  Of  the  tenants  those  renting  on  shares  contributed 
more  prominently  to  the  production  of  corn,  wheat  and  sweet 
potatoes. 

The  corn  acreage  per  corn  farm  was  greater  than  the  corre- 
sponding acreage  per  farm  of  any  other  crop.  Oats  came  second 
and  wheat  third.  Sweet  potatoes  and  Irish  potatoes  were  raised 
in  patches  of  very  small  size.  The  corn  acreage  was  largest 
on  the  managed  farms  reporting  corn.  If  the  farms  reporting 
corn  were  of  the  same  size  as  the  average  farm  of  each  form 

27See  above,  p.  26. 

28Census,  1900,  VI,  96-107,  220,  221,  342-345,  530  and  531. 


489] 


DESCRIPTION    OF    OPERATORS 


95 


of  tenure,  the  percentage  of  the  managed  acreage  in  corn  was 
less  than  the  corresponding  percentage  of  the  acreage  in  farms 
of  other  tenures.  It  seems  probable  that  the  percentage  of  the 
land  devated  to  corn  production  was  greater  in  the  farms  of 
cash  and  share  tenants  than  of  other  operators. 

Considering  the  percentage  of  all  the  land  in  the  state 
devoted  to  the  production  of  certain  crops  it  appears  that  culti- 
vation by  owners  was  especially  prominent  in  the  case  of  sweet 
potatoes,  hay  and  forage,  but  was  relatively  little  associated 
with  the  production  of  oats  and  corn.  Part  owners  and  owners 
and  tenants  devoted  their  land  to  the  raising  of  tobacco,  buck- 
wheat and  wheat  relatively  more  than  to  other  crops.  Man- 
agers were  especially  concerned  with  raising  rye,  hay  and  forage. 
Cash  tenants  emphasized  the  raising  of  Irish  potatoes  and  barley, 
and  neglected  the  production  of  tobacco,  wheat  and  sweet  pota- 
toes. Share  tenants  placed  their  emphasis  on  wheat,  corn  and 
oats. 

The  data  on  yields  per  acre  for  each  kind  of  tenure  are 
presented  below. 

AVERAGE    YIELD    PER    ACRE    OF     SELECTED    CROPS    ON     ACREAGES     CLASSIFIED      . 
ACCORDING   TO   TENURE,   ILLINOIS, 


Production 

"c 

& 

All  tenures 

Owners 

Part  owners 

Owners  and 
tenants 

VI 

C 

u 

bo 

03 
C 
rt 

% 

<n 
-   g 

rt     ™ 
U    1 

Share 
tenants 

Barley 

Bus. 

12.1 

33.o 

31.7 

26.8 

31.8 

3l8 

3O  3 

Buckwheat      

« 

10.=; 

IO.O 

0.0 

IO.4 

8.0 

114. 

IO  5 

Corn    

a 

38.8 

38.3 

37.6 

35.8 

41.6 

41.3 

384 

Oats  

u 

39-5 

39-5 

38.0 

36.5 

40.8 

4O.O 

30.2 

Rye    _  

« 

14.0 

13.8 

13.9 

12.9 

16.3 

15.5 

13.4 

Wheat  

«     ' 

10.8 

10.8 

10.3 

9.8 

11.9 

13.1 

II.  I 

Potatoes 

« 

04.0 

06.3 

95.2 

89.1 

97-7 

95  -O 

9I.I 

Sweet  potatoes 

« 

67.0 

66.6 

74-3 

83.4 

IO2.6 

68.2 

65.4 

Hay  and  Forage 

Tons 

1.2 

1.2 

1.2 

1.2 

1.2 

1.2 

1.2 

Tobacco   .. 

Lbs. 

64  «5.5 

66O.6 

618.8 

511.55 

64.^.3 

8II.4 

622.8 

Precaution  should  be  taken  at  the  outset  against  explaining 
all  differences  in  yields  in  terms  of  the  relative  producing 
efficiency  of  the  farmers  operating  under  different  tenures.  In 
the  first  place,  the  farmers  of  different  tenures  are  not  uniformly 
distributed  over  the  different  grades  of  soil.  In  the  second  place, 

29Census,  1900,  VI,  96-107,  220-221,  342-345,  530,  and  531. 


96  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [490 

climatic  conditions,  insects,  and  the  like  do  not  ordinarily  affect 
all  grades  of  soil  and  all  kinds  of  operators  in  the  same  way, 
and  certainly  not  during  any  one  year.  Making  allowance  for 
these  facts  it  is  still  worth  while  to  study  the  foregoing  table. 

Owners  obtained  highest  yields  only  in  the  production  of 
barley.  Part  owners,  owners  and  tenants,  and  share  tenants 
showed  no  unusually  large  yields  in  any  crops.  Cash  tenants 
had  the  largest  yields  in  buckwheat  and  tobacco.  Cash  tenants 
and  managers  obtained  the  highest  yields  in  the  production  of 
corn,  oats,  rye  and  wheat.  Managers  stood  highest  in  the  yields 
of  hay  and  forage,  and  sweet  potatoes. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that,  although  the  share  tenants 
were  cultivating  their  full  portion  of  the  fertile  land,  they 
exceeded  the  average  yield  only  in  the  production  of  wheat. 
Cash  tenants,  on  the  other  hand,  had  a  yield  above  the  average 
in  the  case  of  every  production  except  barley.  The  cash  tenants 
are  to  be  found  largely  in  the  Northern  part  of  the  state  where 
farming  practice  is  more  diversified  and  where  live  stock  plays 
a  more  important  part  in  the  farming.  Perhaps  part  of  the 
superiority  in  yields  characteristic  of  the  farms  of  cash  tenants 
was  due  to  larger  use  of  animal  matter  as  fertilizer  and  to  a  less 
degree  of  specialization  in  cereal  production.  The  higher  yields 
on  the  managed  farms  may  likewise  be  due  in  considerable 
measure  to  superiority  of  farming  method. 

MORTGAGE  ENCUMBRANCE  ON  OWNED  LAND 

As  indicated  in  Chapter  I30  mortgage  statistics  relate  only 
to  land  operated  by  the  owners,  the  part  owners  in  most  cases 
having  limited  their  reports  to  the  land  owned  by  them. 

The  next  table  summarizes  the  data  on  encumbrance  of 
farm  property  operated  by  owners  in  Illinois. 

Between  1890  and  1910  the  number  of  all  "owned"  places 
declined  9  per  cent,  the  number  of  mortgaged  places  decreased  5 
per  cent,  while  the  number  of  farms  free  from  mortgage  declined 
14  per  cent.  Mortgaging  was  relatively  most  prominent  in  1900 
and  appears  to  have  undergone  little  change  since  that  date.  In 
1910,  38,662  of  the  55,792  farms  reported  as  mortgaged  were 
wholly  owned  by  the  operators.31  The  number  of  farms  of  part 
owners  thus  reported  mortgaged,  17,130,  constituted  45.5  per  cent 
of  all  farms  of  part  owners.  The  percentage  of  owners  proper 

30See  above,  p.  18. 
31Census,  1910,  VI,  414. 


491] 


DESCRIPTION   OF    OPERATORS 


97 


operating  under  mortgage  was  38.3.  The  fact  that  the  part  own- 
ers were  under  mortgage  on  their  owned  land  in  so  many  cases  is 
not  proof  either  that  they  have  been  rising  from  a  lower  or  de- 
scending from  a  higher  economic  status.  The  fact  that  a  part 
owner  operates  rented  land  in  addition  to  a  good-sized  place  of 
his  own  is  merely  evidence  that  he  is  influenced  to  exert  extra- 
ordinary efforts  to  clear  his  land  of  encumbrance. 

THE  NUMBER  AND  PERCENTAGE  OF  OWNED  FARMS  AND  FARM  HOMES   MORTGAGED 
AND  UNENCUMBERED,  ILLINOIS,  iSQO-IQIO.32 


Owned  farm 

Owned  farm 

Owned  farms33 

homes 

homes34 

IQIO 

1900 

1890 

Per 

Per 

Per 

Number 

cent35 

Number 

cent 

Number 

cent 

Total  

145,107 

158,394 

160,065 

Free  from  mortgage 

86,713 

60.8 

92,702 

60.7 

101,305 

63-3 

Mortgaged  

55,792 

39.2 

60.063 

39.3 

58,760 

36.7 

Unknown  .. 

2.602 

5.629 

The  accompanying  map  shows  the  difference  between  coun- 
ties in  the  percentage  of  owned  farms  under  mortgage  in  1900. 
In  three  counties  the  percentages  exceeded  50.36  Twelve  coun- 
ties had  percentages  between  45  and  50.37  Most  of  the  counties 
with  high  percentages  of  owners  operating  under  mortgage  are 
river  counties  in  which  the  farm  area  has  been  growing.  It 
seems  'probable,  therefore,  that  mortgages  were  laid  for  the 
acquisition  of  newly  developed  land  to  a  considerable  extent 
in  those  counties.  The  East  Central  counties  where  land  prices 
have  been  increasing  most  rapidly  constitute  another  district  of 
considerable  mortgaging.  The  explanation  probably  lies  in  the 
fact  that  owners  are  trying  to  enlarge  their  holdings  and  have 
employed  mortgages  to  assist  them,  and  that  owners  and  part 


82Census,  1910,  VI,  414. 

33Includes  all  farms  owned  in  whole  or  in  part  by  the  operator. 

34The  1,813  "owned  farm  homes"  for  which  no  reports  were  secured 
were  distributed  between  "free  from  mortgage"  and  "mortgaged"  in  1890. 

35Per  cent  of  combined  total  of  "free  from  mortgage"  and  "mort- 
gaged". 

38Brown,  50.7;  Jo  Daviess,  51.1;  and  Schuyler,  57.1. 

S7Whiteside  49.7,  Iroquois  47.8,  Carroll  47.4,  Henderson  47.2,  Massac 
47.1,  Wayne  47.1,  Ford  46.8,  Champaign  46.2,  Pulaski  45.3,  McHenry  43.2, 
Boone  45.1,  and  White  45.1. 


98 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[492 


Percentage 
of 


Operating  Under 
Morfgage 
Illinois 
W/0 


456- 


Legend 
ITTTI  20  fry  24.  <? 


50 

55  To  5 


493] 


DESCRIPTION   OF    OPERATORS 


99 


owners  who  have  risen  from  tenancy  have  been  all  the  more  under 
the  necessity  of  mortgaging  in  these  districts. 

Data  regarding  the  amount  of  mortgage  debt  were  gathered 
in  1910  and  1890,  but  not  in  1900.  Only  the  farms  consisting 
wholly  of  owned  land  were  included  in  1910.  In  1890  part 
ownership  had  not  yet  been  recognized  by  the  census.  Of  the 
38.662  mortgaged  farms  owned  by  owners  proper  in  1910,  1,724 
gave  no  usable  reports  on  debt  and  value.  Taking  the  statistics 
at  hand,  however,  the  following  table  is  presented. 

I 

THE  NUMBER  OF  OWNED  FARMS  AND  FARM  HOMES  MORTGAGED,  THEIR  VALUE, 
THE  AMOUNT  OF  MORTGAGE  DEBT  AGAINST  THEM,  JHE  PERCENTAGE  Olf 
VALUE  COVERED  BY  MORTGAGE,  AND  THE  AVERAGE  VALUE,  DEBT  AND  EQUITY 
PER  FARM,  ILLINOIS,  IQIO  AND  iSoX).38 


Owned  far 
homes  m 

IQIO39 

ms  or  farm 
ortgaged 
i89040 

Incr 
Amount 

ease 
Per  cent 

Number  ...  

36,938 

$454,857,222 
$115,799,646 

25-5 
$12,314 

$3,135 
$9,179 

78,760 
$285,706,170 
$98,940,935 
34-6 
$4,862 
$1,684 
$3,178 

Value  —  land  and  buildings.... 
Amount  of  mortgage  debt  

Per  cent  of  debt  to  value  
Average  value  per  farm  
Average  debt  per  farm  .  . 

$7,452 
$i,45i 
$6,001 

153-3 
86.2 
188.8 

Average  equity  per  farm  

The  average  mortgage  debt  per  farm  in  Illinois  in  1910, 
$3,135,  was  exceeded  by  that  prevailing  in  three  other  states. 
These  were  Nevada,  $4,738 ;  Iowa,  $4,048 ;  and  Nebraska,  $3,154.41 
The  average  equity  per  farm  in  Illinois  in  1910,  $9,179,  was  ex- 
ceeded in  three  other  states :  Nebraska,  $11,322 ;  South  Dakota, 
$10,782 ;  and  Iowa,  $10,526.  It  will  be  observed  that  all  of  these 
states  are  located  west  of  the  Mississippi  river.  In  ratio  of  debt 
to  value  in  1890  and  in  1910  the  percentage  in  Illinois  was 
exceeded  in  26  states.  Most  states  in  which  the  percentage  of 
value  covered  by  mortgage  exceeded  that  in  Illinois  were  located 
east  of  the  Mississippi.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  Illinois  has 
shared  with  the  Western  states  the  tendency  for  land  values  to 

38Census,   1910,  VI,  415. 

39Includes  only  farms  consisting  wholly  of  owned  land  and  reporting 
value  of  farm  and  amount  of  debt. 

*°Includes  all  owned  farm  homes,  estimates  being  made  of  value  of 
farms  and  amount  of  debt  for  all  defective  reports. 

41Census,  1910,  V,  167. 


100  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [494 

increase  more  rapidly  than  mortgage  indebtedness,  rapid  as  the 
increase  in  indebtedness  has  been. 

A  map  is  also  presented  illustrating  by  counties  the  per- 
centage of  value  of  owned  farms  covered  by  mortgage  in  1910. 
For  the  most  part  it  appears  that  the  counties  with  the  highest 
percentages  were  located  in  Northern  Illinois.  The  lowest  per- 
centage was  that  of  Calhoun  county,  3.1.42  Low  percentages 
characterize  the  counties  in  East  Central  Illinois  and  in  the 
eastern  half  of  Southern  Illinois.  In  the  case  of  the  East  Central 
Illinois  counties,  the  low  percentages  are  probably  explained  by 
the  rapid  rise  in  land  values  characteristic  of  the  ten  or  twelve 
years  preceding  1910.  In  Southern  Illinois,  though  land  values 
have  not  run  away  from  mortgage  indebtedness  so  rapidly,  there 
has  not  been  the  stimulus  toward  mortgaging  such  as  that  afforded 
by  the  rate  of  advance  in  land  prices  in  other  parts  of  the  state. 
In  Northern  Illinois  the  practice  of  mortgaging  the  value  of  the 
land  heavily  seems  to  be  most  prevalent.  That  this  is  due  to 
lack  of  prosperity  seems  hardly  likely,  for  the  existing  evidence, 
meager  though  it  is,  points  to  a  greater  prosperity,  especially 
among  tenants,  in  that  part  of  the  state.43  Such  being  the  case, 
the  suggestion  arises  that  probably  the  chances  for  land  acqui- 
sition are  stronger  in  Northern  Illinois.  Since  the  farming 
practice  is  such  as  naturally  to  conserve  the  soil  and  since  land 
prices  have  not  been  so  much  affected  by  increment,  the  propor- 
tion of  the  acre  value  for  which  mortgages  can  be  negotiated 
is  larger.4* 

On  the  whole  it  appears  that  the  "calamity"  element  has 
not  been  a  significant  cause  of  mortgaging  in  Illinois,  though  no 
specific  investigations  of  that  feature  have  been  made  in  the  last 
twenty-five  years.45  Since  the  data  are  limited  to  operating 
owners  the  mortgaging  of  leased  land  has  been  left  out  of  con- 
sideration. This  is  commonly  supposed  to  be  a  small  factor,  yet 

*2This  is  so  much  less  than  the  percentages  in  adjacent  counties  as 
to  lead  one  to  suspect  the  accuracy  of  the  reports. 

43Stewart,  C.  L.,  Analysis  of  Rural  Banking  Conditions  in  Illinois, 
19  and  20. 

4*Ibid.,  14  and  15. 

*5The  only  investigations  from  which  any  light  can  be  obtained  on 
this  question  in  Illinois  were  those  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  of 
Illinois  covering  the  dates  1870,  1880,  and  1887,  reported  by  Secretary 
John  S.  Lord  in  the  Fifth  Biennial  Report  of  the  Bureau,  1888,  and  that 
of  the  United  States  census  of  1890,  reported  in  the  volume  on  Farms  and 
Homes :  Proprietorship  and  Indebtedness. 


495] 


DESCRIPTION    OP    OPERATORS 


101 


Percentage 
of  Value  of 
Mortgaged  Farms 
Covered  by 
Mortgages 
Illinois 


Census 

w/o 

Ito7  YT 
436-145 


0  to  4. 


102 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[496 


an  investigation  of  the  question  under  a  regime  of  rising  land 
prices  might  reveal  some  important  facts. 

RACE,  COLOR  AND  NATIVITY  OF  FARMERS 

Statistics  on  race,  color  and  nativity  of  farmers  were  gath- 
ered in  1890,  1900  and  1910.  At  the  census  of  1890  the  basis 
of  investigation  was  the  occupier  of  the  farm,  in  1890  the  occu- 
pier of  the  farm  home,  and  in  1910  the  operator  of  the  farm.  The 
following  table  summarizes  the  data  for  Illinois  by  major  na- 
tivity groups. 

THE  COLOR  AND  NATIVITY  OF  FARMERS   CLASSIFIED  BY  TENURE,  ILLINOIS, 

iSgo-ipio.46 


X 

42 

Percentage 

IE 

tn 

O 

rt 
<u 

of  group 

rt 

C 

in 

at 

en 

classified  as 

c  S, 

£ 

I 

"*     O. 

<u 

ts 

bo 

""O  ^ 

c    o 

rt 

rt 

bO    § 

C 

C 

c 

en 

c3    £ 

Q 

<-*-) 

rt     £j, 

& 

U 

C3 

<n 

en 

u 

bo 

,-. 

'c 

O 

H 

Li 

cu 

"c 

bo 

Q 

^« 

<u 

C 

rt 

05 

Q 

^ 

U 

& 

C 
cu 

C 

U 

V 

PH 

O 

H 

1 

Total 

1910 

251,872 

1  00.0 

145,107 

104,379 

2,386 

57-6 

41.4 

0.9 

1900 

262,l8O 

IOO.O 

158,394 

101,728 

60.4 

39-6 

1890 

252,953 

1  00.0 

160,065 

92,888 



63.3 

36.7 



Native  white 

! 

1910 

217,053 

86.2 

123,907 

91,014 

2,132 

57.1 

41.9 

I.O 

1900 

208,884 

79-7 

124,408 

82,662 

59.7 

40.3 



1890 

190,234 

75-2 

117,223 

73,on 

63.7 

36.3 



Foreign-born  white 

1910 

33,394 

13-3 

20,411 

12,747 

236 

61.1 

38.2 

0.7 

1900 

51,722 

19.7 

33,059 

i8,345 



64.1 

35-9 

1890 

61,044 

24.1 

42,080 

18,964 

69.2 

30.8 

Negro  and  other 

non-white47 

1910 

1,425 

0.6 

789 

618 

18 

554!434 

1-3 

1000 

1,574 

0.6 

837 

721 

|53.2|46.8|  

1890 

1,675 

o.7| 

762 

913 

||45.7|54-3 



46Census,  1910,  VI,  416;  1900,  II,  715,  744;  and  1890,  Farms  and 
Homes,  567,  591. 

47The  number  of  non-whites  other  than  negroes  was  made  up  as 
follows:  Chinese  and  Japanese,  1910,  i,  1900,  5,  and  1890,  2;  Indians, 
1910,  2,  1900,  o,  and  1890,  3. 


497]  DESCRIPTION   OF    OPERATORS  103 

It  appears  that  the  percentage  of  Illinois  farmers  who  were 
native-born  whites  increased  from  75.2  in  1890  to  86.2  in  1910. 
The  percentage  of  native-born  white  farmers  owning  their 
farms  was  at  each  date  less  than  the  corresponding  percentage 
among  foreign-born  white  farmers.  The  farm  managers  were 
foreign-born  in  relatively  few  instances.  The  negro  and  other 
non-white  farmers  declined  in  number  during  each  decade,  and 
at  each  date  constituted  less  than  0.7  per  cent  of  all  farmers  in 
the  state.  The  percentage  of  negro  and  other  non- white  farmers 
owning  their  farms  was  at  each  date  smaller  than  the  corre- 
sponding percentage  for  either  group  of  white  farmers,  but  in- 
creased at  a  rapid  rate  during  the  twenty  years.  The  growth 
of  ownership  among  non-white  farmers  in  Illinois  contrasts  with 
the  decline  in  ownership  among  the  white  farmers  of  the  state. 

The  number  of  non-white  farmers  other  than  negroes  was  5 
in  1890  and  1900  and  3  in  1910.  Separate  data  for  the  negroes 
were  not  reported  in  1910.  In  1890  and  1900  the  percentage 
of  their  farms  and  homes  owned  by  them  was  43.2  and  53.7, 
respectively.48  In  1900  the  percentage  of  negro  farmers  in  each 
tenure  group  was  as  follows:  owners,  36.5;  part  owners,  11.5; 
owners  and  tenants,  0.8 ;  managers,  0.3 ;  cash  tenants,  14.6 ;  and 
share  tenants,  36.3.49  The  discrepancy  between  the  figures  is 
possibly  due  to  home  ownership  in  some  cases  unaccompanied  by 
farm  ownership.  Tenancy,  especially  share  tenancy,  was  more 
common  among  the  negro  farmers  than  among  the  white 
farmers.50 

Data  on  the  country  of  nativity  of  occupiers  of  farms  and 

48Census,  1900,  II,  714;  and,  1890,  Farms  and  Homes,  567. 

49Census,  1900,  V,  50,  52.  The  corresponding  percentages  for  farms 
operated  by  whites  in  1900  were:  owners,  46.1;  part  owners,  13.0;  owners 
and  tenants,  0.8 ;  managers,  0.7 ;  cash  tenants,  14.5 ;  and  share  tenants,  24.8. 

50The  negro  farmers  in  Illinois  in  1899  were  specializing  in  vegetable, 
fruit,  tobacco,  sugar  and  miscellaneous  lines  of  farming  to  a  greater 
extent  than  were  white  farmers.  The  farms  of  negroes  were  much 
smaller  than  those  of  white  farmers,  the  percentage  of  farms  under  50  acres 
in  size  being  66.5  in  the  case  of  colored  farmers  as  against  22.8  in  the 
case  of  white  farmers.  (Census,  1900,  V,  51,  53.)  The  negro  farmers  of 
Illinois  are  located  chiefly  in  the  Southern  counties.  The  counties  in 
which  the  percentage  of  farms  run  by  negroes  in  1900  was  i.o  or 
over  are  as  follows:  Pulaski,  31.3;  Alexander,  13.6;  Massac,  8.2;  Pope,  3.2; 
Saline,  3.0;  Jackson,  2.2;  St.  Clair,  1.8;  Madison,  1.6;  Clinton,  1.5;  Law- 
rence, 1.3;  White,  1.2;  Sangamon,  i.i ;  Randolph,  i.o;  and  Hardin,  i.O. 
(Census,  1900,  V,  73-75). 


104  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [498 

farm  homes  in  Illinois  are  available  for  1890  and  1900,51  and,  in 
a  form  scarcely  comparable  with  the  data  of  preceding  dates, 
in  1910.52 

The  number  of  occupiers  of  farm  homes  in  Illinois  in  1900 
who  were  not  born  in  foreign  countries  is  given  as  156,688  in 
this  series,  while  in  the  last  table  the  number  of  farmers  who 
were  native-born  whites  in  1900  was  208,864.  The  discrepancy 
casts  discredit  upon  the  statistics.  It  appears,  nevertheless,  that 
the  Germanic  was  the  strongest  single  element  among  the  farmers 
in  the  state,  and  that  those  born  in  the  British  isles  were  next 
in  relative  numbers. 

The  percentage  of  ownership  in  1890  was  above  the  average 
among  the  Austro-Hungarians,  the  French  (both  Canadian  and 
European),  the  Germans,  Irish,  Scotch,  Italians,  and  those  com- 
ing from  Russia  and  Poland.  In  1900  the  percentage  of  owner- 
ship was  above  the  average  among  the  Austro-Hungarians,  the 
British,  particularly  the  Irish,  the  Italians  and  the  Polish.  Own- 
ership free  from  encumbrance  in  1890  was  especially  character- 
istic of  the  Austro-Hungarians,  the  French,  the  Germans,  the 
Scotch,  and  the  Italians,  and  in  1900  was  found  especially  among 
the  Austro-Hungarians,  the  Germans,  the  Italians  and  those  from 
"other  countries".  The  percentage  of  ownership  was  least 
among  the  Scandinavians.  Those  born  in  Russia  and  Poland 
were  characterized  by  ownership  in  a  high  degree,  but  were 
largely  under  mortgage. 

RESIDENCE   AND   LANDED   WEALTH   OP   OWNERS 

The  twelfth  census  was  the  only  one  at  which  data  were 
gathered  on  the  residence  and  landed  wealth  of  the  owners  of 
rented  farms.  Nearly  nineteen  out  of  each  twenty  rented  farms 
were  owned  by  residents  of  the  state.53  Of  the  remaining  5.5 
per  cent  of  the  farms,  three-fifths  were  owned  by  residents  of  the 
North  Central  states.  The  owners  residing  in  the  North  Central 
states  owned  the  largest  number  of  rented  farms  each.  The  27 
owners  residing  in  foreign  countries  held  28  rented  farms. 

Of  the  98,730  rented  farms  with  residence  of  owners  known, 

"Census,  1900,  II,  744;  and  1890,  Farms  and  Homes,  591. 

52Census,  1910,  VI,  416. 

53Census,  1900,  V,  309. 

The  number  of  rented  farms  with  owners  reported  is  less  than  the 
total  number  of  tenant  farms  reported  in  other  tabulations.  The  incom- 
pleteness of  the  data,  however,  need  not  be  regarded  as  greatly  injuring; 
their  usefulness. 


499] 


DESCRIPTION   OF    OPERATORS 


105 


76.8  per  cent  were  held  by  owners  residing  in  the  same  county; 

17.9  per  cent  were  held  by  owners  residing  in  other  Illinois  coun- 
ties ;  and  5.3  per  cent  by  owners  residing  in  other  states.55    The 
average  acreage  and  the  average  value  per  farm  were  least  in 
the  case  of  the  rented  farms  of  owners  residing  in  the  same 
county,  and  most  in  the  case  of  those  of  owners  residing  in  other 
counties  of  the  state.     The  average  value  per  acre,  however, 

The  tendencies  in  ownership  among  the  different  population 
elements  in  Illinois  is  shown  in  the  next  table. 

PERCENTAGE   OF   FARMS   AND    HOMES    OWNED   AND   RENTED    BY   OCCUPIERS    BORN 
IN  VARIOUS  COUNTIES,  ILLINOIS,  l8ox>  AND  IOOO.54 


Percentage  of  places 

Percentage 

of 

Owned 

Rented 

\J  L 

Owners 

Nativity 

of 

Farm 

Farm 

occupiers 

homes 

Farms 

homes 

Farms 

Fr 

ee 

Encun 

ibered 

1900 

1800 

1900 

1890 

1900 

1890 

1900 

1890 

All  occupiers  

60.9 

63.3 

39-1 

36.7 

60.7 

63.3 

39-3 

36.7 

Austria-Hungary 

65.9 

66.6 

34-1 

33-3 

63.2 

66.3 

36.8 

33-7 

Canada  (English) 

56.4 

59-8 

43-6 

30.2 

55-9 

56.2 

44.1 

43.8 

Canada  (French) 

577 

71.8 

42.3 

28.3 

46.6 

52.3 

534 

47-7 

France  



74-7 



25-3 



68.8 



31-2 

Germany    

5Q.7 

68.2 

40.3 

32.8 

61.8 

66.1 

38.2 

33-9 

Great    Britain  

%jy*/ 

66.4 

60.6 

33-6 

394 

55-2 

62.6 

44-8 

38.4 

Ireland    

68.5 

78.8 

31.5 

21.2 

59-2 

62.7 

40.8 

37-3 

Scotland  

79-8 

2O.2 

69.0 

31-0 

Italy  

66.0 

79.1 

34.0 

2O.9 

61.0 

68.8 

39-0 

31.2 

Russia  and 

Poland  

81.3 

81.3 

18.7 

18.7 

46.6 

50.5 

53-4 

49-5 

Poland    

84.6 

15-4 

44.6 

554 

Russia  

46.6 



534 

64.2 

35-8 



Scandinavia  

44-8 

52.4 

55-2 

47.6 

44-6 

47-9 

55-4 

52.1 

Mixed  foreign 

parentage  .... 

56.8 



43-2 

56.2 

43-8 



United  States 

(or  unknown) 

61.4 

61.4 

38.6 

38.6 

62.3 

63.7 

37-7 

36.3 

Other  countries- 

554 

60.  i 

44.6 

39-9 

62.9 

654 

37-1 

34-6 

54Census,  1900,  II,  744;  and  1890,  Farms  and  Homes,  59L 
55Census,  1900,  V,  310,  311. 


106  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [500 

was  greatest  in  the  case  of  the  farms  of  those  owners  residing 
in  the  county  in  which  the  farms  were  located  and  least  in  the 
case  of  those  dwelling  in  other  counties  of  the  state.  The  per- 
centage of  tenant  farms  rented  for  cash  increased  with  the  dis- 
tance of  the  owners  from  their  farms,  although  65  per  cent  of  the 
rented  farms  owned  by  residents  of  other  states  were  leased  on 
the  share  basis. 

The  table  on  the  next  page  throws  light  on  the  concentration 
of  ownership  of  rented  farms  as  shown  by  the  census  of  1900. 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  similar  data  are  not  available  for  1910. 

The  first  column  shows  data  based  on  the  number  of  owners 
of  rented  farms.  Of  these  owners  85.0  per  cent  owned  a  single 
farm  each,  95.3  per  cent  owned  fewer  than  three  farms,  and 
98.8  per  cent  owned  fewer  than  five  farms.  Fewer  than  200 
acres  each  were  owned  by  74.6  per  cent  of  the  owners.  One 
owner  of  rented  farms  in  1000  owned  over  2500  acres.  The  value 
of  the  farms  was  under  $5000  in  the  case  of  48.2  per  cent  of  the 
owners,  and  exceeded  $25,000  in  the  case  of  5.3  per  cent. 

The  second,  third  and  fourth  columns  are  based,  not  on 
owners,  but  on  rented  farms  possessed  by  owners  of  various 
classes.  Of  the  rented  farms  68.0  per  cent  were  owned  by  owners 
holding  deeds  to  one  farm  each,  and  7.8  per  cent  by  owners  pos- 
sessing over  five  farms  each.  The  farms  belonging  to  owners  of 
one  farm  each  were  slightly  below  the  average  in  size  and  still 
more  so  in  value.  Those  belonging  to  owners  of  two  and  under 
five  farms  were  somewhat  above  the  average  in  size  and  value. 
Those  possessed  by  owners  of  ten  and  under  twenty  farms  were 
above  the  average  in  both  size  and  value,  especially  in  value.  One 
per  cent  of  the  rented  farms  were  held  by  owners  of  twenty  farms 
and  over,  and  these  farms  were  above  the  average  in  size,  but 
below  the  average  in  value. 

The  farms  possessed  by  owners  owning  under  200  acres  were 
below  the  average  in  acreage  and  value,  while  the  farms  of  all 
owners  holding  more  than  200  acres  of  rented  land  were  above  the 
average  in  those  respects.  It  is  more  natural  to  expect  this 
to  be  true  regarding  the  acreage  than  the  value.  The  rented 
farms  belonging  to  owners  of  2500  acres  or  more  were  farther 
below  the  average  in  value  than  those  in  any  other  group.  Con- 
sidering value  alone,  however,  there  was  considerable  concentra- 
tion of  ownership  in  the  hands  of  farm  owners  owning  500  or 
more  acres. 

The  classification  of  rented  farms  according  to  the  value 


501] 


DESCRIPTION   OF    OPERATORS 


107 


THE  PERCENTAGE  OF  OWNERS  OF  RENTED  FARMS  WHO  POSSESSED  SPECIFIED 
AMOUNTS  OF  FARM  PROPERTY;  THE  PERCENTAGE  OF  RENTED  FARMS  POS- 
SESSED BY  EACH  CLASS  OF  OWNERS  OF  RENTED  FARMS;  AND  THE  PER- 
CENTAGE OF  ACREAGE  AND  OF  THE  VALUE  OF  ALL  RENTED  FARMS  COM-1 
PRISED  IN  THE  FARMS  OF  THE  VARIOUS  CLASSES  OF  OWNERS,  ILLINOIS, 
IOOO.56 


Basis    of 
classifying  owners 
of  rented   farms 

Percen 

tage  of 

Owners  of 
rented 
farms  who 
possess 

Rented 
farms 
held  by 
owners 
who 
possess 

Acreage 
of  all 
rented 
farms  of 
owners 
who 
possess 

Value  of 
all  rented 
farms  in 
farms  of 
owners 
who 
possess 

Number  of   farms 
One 

85-05 
10.30 

349 
0-95 
0.17 
0.04 

67.00 
16.23 
8-99 
5-03 
1.69 
i.  06 

65.88 
16.50 

9.83 
4.99 

T.74 
1.14 

64.82 
16.62 
9.83 
5-10 
2.68 
0.96 

Two  ... 

Three  and  under  five 

Five  and  under  ten  

Ten  and  under  twenty  

Twenty  and  over  

Acres 
Under  100  

40.07 

34-57 
21.93 

2-73 
0.60 

O.IO 

33-05 
30.40 
25.84 
6.58 
2.98 
MS 

12.96 
28.84 
38.38 
10.89 
5-i8 
3-73 

13.48 
30.60 
38.06 
10.51 
4.87 
2.48 

100  and  under  200    

200  and  under  500  

500  and  under  1000  

looo  and  under  2500. 

2500  and  over 

Value 
Under  $1000  

10.75 
10.18 
27.28 
25-35 

21.12 
5.32 

8.83 
8.63 
23.52 
19-59 
26.58 
12.85 

2.18 
4.18 
16.46 
19.04 

37-14 
20.99 

0.62 
1.56 
1  1.  60 
17.06 
41.40 
27.76 

$1000  and  under  $2000 

$2000  and  under  $5000    

$5000  and  under  $10,000 

$10,000  and  under  $25,000  
$2^.000  and  over  

of  rented  farms  owned  by  their  owners  shows  that  those  owned 
by  owners  holding  a  value  of  less  than  $10,000  were  considerably 
below  the  average  in  size  and  value  per  acre.  Rented  farms 
owned  by  owners  whose  holdings  in  such  farms  had  a  value  ex- 

56Census,  1900,  V,  312-317. 


108  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [502 

ceeding  $10,000  were  above  the  average  both,  in  size  and  in  value. 
On  the  whole  it  appears  that  the  owners  of  larger  and  more 
valuable  areas  of  land  have  their  land  operated  on  a  scale  above 
the  average.  The  concentration  of  holdings  in  the  hands  of  the 
wealthier  land  owners,  while  not  great,  was  considerable. 

AGE  OP  OPERATORS  IN  RELATION  TO  TENURE  AND  ENCUMBRANCE 

Statistics  were  gathered  on  the  ages  of  operators  in  1890, 
1900  and  1910. 

The  percentage  of  all  farmers  who  were  under  25  years  of 
age  was  greater  in  1910  than  at  the  earlier  dates.57  This  was 
due  chiefly  to  the  relative  increase  in  the  prominence  of  younger 
tenants.  Farmers  between  25  and  34  years  of  age  declined  in 
relative  numerical  importance  among  both  owners58  and  tenants 
from  1890  to  1910.  Those  between  35  and  54  years  old  increased 
in  relative  numbers  among  both  owners  and  tenants  between 
1890  and  1910.  Those  55  years  old  and  over  declined  in  relative 
prominence  among  both  classes  of  operators.  This  decline  was 
especially  marked  in  the  case  of  those  65  years  old  and  over  as 
shown  by  the  data  for  1900  and  1910. 

The  graph  illustrates  the  distribution  of  the  owners  and  of 
the  tenants  among  the  age-periods  for  1890,  1900  and  1910.59 
The  age  period,  35  to  44,  is  one  which  included  a  slightly  higher 
percentage  of  the  tenants  than  of  the  farmers.80  The  ages  under 
35  included  a  greater  portion  of  the  tenants  than  of  the  owners, 
while  the  ages  over  44  included  a  much  greater  portion  of  the 
owners  than  of  tenants.  The  percentage  of  owners  comprised 
within  the  age-groups  increased  with  each  succeeding  age-period. 

"Census,  1910,  bulletin,  Agriculture:  United  States,  Age  of  Farmers, 
25;  1900,  V,  727;  and  1890,  Farms  and  Homes,  618. 

58Including  part  owners  in  this  series  of  statistics. 

59See  also  Taylor,  H.  C,  The  Place  of  Economics  in  Agricultural 
Education  and  Research,  108-110. 

60The  census  of  1910,  the  only  one  giving  such  statistics,  affords  evi- 
dence that  the  age  of  the  operator  seems  also  to  have  something  to  do 
with  the  basis  on  which  he  rents  land.  While  35.8  percent  of  the  operators 
in  all  age-groups  rented  on  a  cash  basis,  the  percentage  varied  as  follows : 
under  25  years,  26.2;  25  and  under  35  years,  34.4;  35  and  under  45  years, 
38.0;  45  and  under  55  years,  38.2;  55  and  under  65  years,  37.8;  and  65 
years  and  over,  42.8.  (Census,  1910,  bulletin,  Agriculture,  United  States, 
Age  of  Farmers,  25). 

This  evidence  points  to  an  improvement  in  the  economic  and  tech- 
nical status  of  tenants  as  their  years  advance. 


503] 


DESCRIPTION    OF   OPERATORS 


109 


In  the  case  of  tenants  the  percentage  comprised  within  the  age- 
group,  25  to  34,  was  greatest,  and  declined  steadily  with  the  suc- 
ceeding age-periods.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  youth  is  much 


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110 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[504 


more  characteristic  of  the  tenants  than  of  the  owners,  and  that 
age  seems  to  increase  the  chances  for  ownership. 

The  percentage  of  farm  operators  under  25  years  of  age 
who  owned  their  land  was  27  in  1890,  23  in  1900  and  17  in  1910. 
The  percentage  of  operators  55  years  old  and  over  who  rented 
their  places  was  14  in  1890,  15  in  1900  and  17  in  1910.  It 
seems  that  ownership  among  younger  farmers  has  been  declining 
and  that  tenancy  has  been  increasing  among  older  operators. 
Apparently,  the  period  of  tenancy  through  which  many  farmers 
must  pass  on  their  way  to  ownership  has  been  growing  longer. 
This  is  especially  true  since  1900. 

The  age  of  owners  free  from  mortgage  encumbrance  and  of 
those  having  mortgages  on  their  places  is  likewise  shown  by -data 
for  the  last  three  census  dates.  Although  the  basis  of  the  data 
is  somewhat  different  on  the  various  occasions,  the  difference  is 
so  slight  as  to  be  practically  negligible  in  this  sort  of  a  com- 
parison. 

THE  PERCENTAGE  OF  OWNERS  IN   EACH   AGE-GROUP  OWNING  THEIR   PLACES   FREE 
AND  ENCUMBERED,  ILLINOIS,   I& 


Age-period 

Percentage 

of   owners 

Free 

Encumbered 

1910 

IQOO 

1890 

1910 

1900 

1890 

Under  25   years 

24.2 
28.0 

36.3 
46.4 
65.1 
58-6 

747 

47.2 

56-7 
48.6 
50.6 
58.1 
69.3 
65.3 

74-5 
«&6 

634 
51-0 
56.0 
61.4 

72.5 

6r2 

65.8 
72.0 
63.7 
53-6 
34-9 
41.4 
25-3 
«.8 

43-3 
51-4 
494 
41.9 
30-7 
34-7 
25-5 

41.4 

36.6 

47-0 
43-1 
38.6 

27-S 
36.8 

25  and  under  35  years 

35   and   under  45   years  

45  and  under  55  years    .       .    . 

55  years  and  over  

55  and  under  65  years  

65  years  and   over 

Total..... 

It  appears  that,  in  general,  freedom  from  mortgage  encum- 
biance  increased  with  advancing  age.  Those  under  25  years  old 
were  exceptions  to  the  general  trend,  because,  doubtless,  in  many 
eases  they  were  heirs  who  had  received  their  land  clear  of 
indebtedness.  The  age-period,  25  to  34,  however,  was  one  during 
which  the  percentage  of  mortgage  encumbrance  was  very  heavy. 
At  each  census  the  succeeding  age-period  showed  declining 

filCensus,  1910,  bulletin,  Agriculture :  United  States,  Age  of  Farmers, 
25;  1900,  V,  727;  and  1890,  Farms  and  Homes,  618. 


505]  DESCRIPTION   OF   OPERATORS  111 

percentages  of  owners  encumbered,  indicating  in  most  cases  suc- 
cessful escape  from  indebtedness.  The  decline  in  freedom  from 
encumbrance  was  more  rapid  between  1900  and  1910  than  be- 
tween 1890  and  1900. 

The  owners  in  the  age-groups  under  45  years  were  rela- 
tively less  free  from  mortgage  encumbrance  at  the  later  census 
dates  than  those  in  the  age-groups  45  years  and  over. 
The  decade,  1890  to  1900,  was  one  of  relatively  little  change, 
while  that  following  1900  was  one  of  decided  decline  in  the  case 
of  all  ages  under  55  years.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  period 
required  for  removing  mortgage  incumbrance  from  farms  has 
been  lengthened  in  Illinois.62 

SUMMAEY 

By  way  of  summary  the  following  are  the  outstanding  facts 
relative  to  farm  operators  in  Illinois.  The  farmers  operate 
chiefly  as  heads  of  families.  Share  tenants  has  been  more  preval- 
ent than  cash  tenancy,  though  cash  tenancy  predominates  in  the 
Northern  part  of  the  state  and  has  been  more  characteristic 
of  tenants  who  were  advanced  in  years  and  who  were  operating 
farms  whose  owners  were  resident  at  a  considerable  distance  from 
their  farms.  The  farms  of  medium  size  were  chiefly  cultivated 
by  tenants,  while  the  largest  and  smallest  farms  were  most  char- 
acterized by  operation  by  owners.  There  was  a  tendency  toward 
the  cash  basis  in  the  case  of  farms  under  500  acres,  and  toward 
the  share  basis  in  the  case  of  those  over  500  acres.  During  the 
ten  years,  1900  to  1910,  the  farms  of  owners  proper  declined  in 
size,  and  those  of  tenants  underwent  a  decided  increase  due, 
probably,  to  the  decline  in  ownership  in  the  districts  of  larger 
farms.  The  tenants  were  in  charge  of  more  than  their  pro- 
portion of  the  improved  acreage. 

The  farms  of  no  single  form  of  tenure  can  be  held  to  be 
superior  in  all  ways.  Managed  farms  had  the  highest  value 
in  buildings  and  live  stock  per  acre,  and  farms  of  owners  were 
characterized  by  the  highest  value  of  implements  and  machinery 
per  acre.  In  values  of  domestic  animals  the  farms  of  tenants 
were  below  the  average,  when  either  the  total  value  or  the  value 

62A  certain  amount  of  evidence  on  this  point  is  afforded  by  the  fact 
that  there  is  growing  discontent  among  bankers  with  the  practice  of 
renewing  mortgages,  and  an  agitation  for  lengthening  the  period  of 
mortgages  in  Illinois.  See  Stewart,  C.  L.,  An  Analysis  of  Rural  Bank- 
ing Conditions  in  Illinois,  13,  14,  20,  21. 


112  LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [506 

per  head  is  considered.  The  farms  of  tenants  were  largely  de- 
voted to  the  production  of  the  money  crops.  This  was  particu- 
larly true  of  share  tenant  farms.  Yields  were  superior  in  the 
case  of  farms  operated  by  managers  and  by  cash  tenants. 

Operating  owners  have  shown  little  tendency  to  increase  the 
mortgages  on  their  farms  since  1900,  and  the  rate  of  increase  of 
the  equity  has  greatly  exceeded  that  of  the  indebtedness. 

The  farms  were  mostly  in  the  hands  of  white  farmers, 
with  a  decreasing  percentage  of  foreign-born.  This  decrease  may 
be  due  to  the  ability  of  the  foreign-born  to  pass  the  ownership  of 
their  land  to  children  born  in  this  country. 

The  owners  of  rented  farms  in  1900  were  resident  in  the 
state  in  about  nineteen  cases  in  twenty,  and  in  three  cases  out 
of  four  were  resident  in  the  same  county  in  which  the  farms 
were  located. 

Concentration  in  the  ownership  of  rented  farms  is  seen  in 
the  fact  that  in  1900,  1.16  per  cent  of  the  owners  of  rented  farms 
were  in  possession  of  7.78  per  cent  of  the  rented  farms,  compris- 
ing 7.87  per  cent  of  the  acreage  and  8.74  per  cent  of  the  value 
of  rented  farms. 

It  was  shown  by  the  age  statistics  that  young  opertors  were 
more  generally  characterized  by  tenancy,  especially  on  the  share 
basis,  and  that  young  owners  were  most  heavily  encumbered. 
Advancing  years  tended  to  replace  share  with  cash  tenancy, 
tenancy  with  ownership,  and  encumbrance  with  freedom  from 
mortgage  debt.  The  latest  census  data,  however,  indicate  that 
an  influence  is  at  work  restraining  this  movement. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  RELATION  OP  TENURE  TO  RURAL  ECONOMIC  AND  SOCIAL 
CONDITIONS  IN  ILLINOIS 

The  tenure  of  land  in  Illinois  is  closely  related  to  a  number 
of  prevailing  tendencies  having  a  political  and  social  significance. 
Not  least  important  of  these  tendencies  is  the  change  in  the  num- 
ber of  people  living  on  the  farms  of  the  state. 

THE  DECLINE  IN  RURAL  POPULATION 

The  existing  data  make  it  difficult  to  get  accurately  at  the 
decline  in  rural  population  in  Illinois  counties.  Data  are  af- 
forded for  the  incorporated  places  in  the  entire  state  and  for  the 
total  population  of  each  county.  "Unincorporated  population," 
of  course,  is  not  to  be  identified  with  "farm"  population.  Some 
farm  operators  and  laborers  live  in  incorporated  places.  Some 
of  those  dwelling  outside  of  incorporated  places  follow  a  line 
of  occupation  in  cities,  some  others  are  engaged  in  exploiting 
mineral  wealth,  such  as  coal,  oil,  and  gas,  and  a  few  conduct 
country  shops  and  stores.  Whether  the  absolute  figures  for  the 
unincorporated  population  approach  closely  the  actual  farm 
population  is  hard  to  say.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  the 
change  in  the  unincorporated  population  is  not  greatly  different 
from  the  change  in  the  actual  farm  population.  The  incorpora- 
tion of  places  has  been  more  completely  accomplished  at  the  later 
dates,  but  an  inspection  of  the  statistics  shows  this  source  of 
declining  unincorporated  population  to  be  of  slight  importance. 
Moreover,  the  place  held  in  the  unincorporated  population  by 
miners  and  others  occupied  in  non-agricultural  pursuits  has 
probably  been  an  increasing  one.  All  things  considered,  there- 
fore, the  change  in  the  number  of  people  dwelling  outside  of 
incorporated  places  may  be  regarded  as  a  fair  index  of  the 
change  in  farm  population. 

During  the  twenty  years,  1890  to  1910,  there  was  a  decline 
in  the  unincorporated  population  of  87  counties  and  an  increase 
in  15  counties.  The  decline  in  the  state  as  a  whole  was  7.2  per 
cent.  The  following  table  shows  this  change  somewhat  more  in 
detail. 

113 


114 


LAND  TENUKE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[508 


THE    NUMBER    OF    COUNTIES     IN    WHICH     THE    UNINCORPORATED    POPULATION 
INCREASED  AND  DECREASED,  BY  GEOGRAPHIC  DIVISIONS,  ILLINOIS, 


Period    ' 

The 

state 

Divisions 

Northern 

Central 

Southern 

Inc. 

Dec. 

Inc. 

Dec. 

Inc. 

Dec. 

Inc. 

Dec. 

1890-1910   

IS 
14 

?=; 

87 
88 

67 

7 
7 
ii 

17 
17 
n 

i 
o 
B 

36 
37 

•?2 

7 
7 
10 

34 
34 

22 

1900-1910   

1800-1000   .. 

It  is  apparent  that  during  each  of  the  two  decades  the  unin- 
corporated population  was  declining  in  most  of  the  counties.  In 
the  state  as  a  whole,  the  decline  was  1.6  per  cent  between  1890 
and  1900  and  5.7  per  cent  between  1900  and  1910.  The  unin- 
corporated population  of  the  counties  of  Central  Illinois  showed 
the  least  tendency  to  increase  during  either  decade  of  the  period. 
The  proportion  of  counties  in  which  an  increase  took  place 
between  1890  and  1900  was  largest  in  Southern  Illinois,  and 
between  1900  and  1910  was  largest  in  Northern  Illinois.  In  9  of 
the  14  counties  in  which  an  increase  took  place  in  the  unincor- 
porated population  between  1900  and  1910  an  increase  had 
occurred  during  the  preceding  decade.  Of  these  9  counties  5 
were  within  a  radius  of  50  miles  of  a  large  city,  3  were  marked 
by  the  development  of  mineral  resources,  and  3  were  river  coun- 
ties in  which  the  farm  area  was  being  expanded  during  the 
period  following  1890.  Of  the  5  other  counties  in  which  the 
unincorporated  population  increased  between  1900  and  1910,  3 
were  adjacent  to  large  cities. 

The  increase  in  unincorporated  population  appears,  there- 
fore, to  have  been  due  in  large  measure  to  exceptional  conditions, 
such  as  proximity  to  large  urban  centers,  the  inclusion  of  new 
larm  land,  and  the  exploitation  of  mineral  wealth  by  people 
who  were  enumerated  as  resident  outside  of  incorporated  places. 
Urban  centers  exert  their  influence  not  only  by  giving  a  more 
intensive  tone  to  the  agriculture,  but  also  by  filling  the  sur- 
rounding country  with  residents  who  belong  rather  to  the  city 
than  to  farm  population. 

It  is  important  to  observe,  first,  the  relation  of  the  popula- 
tion actually  engaged  in  agriculture  to  the  total  unincorporated 
population.  The  population  actually  engaged  in  agriculture 
increased  from  430,134  in  1890  to  444,242  in  1910.  In  1900  it 
stood  at  461,014.  Though  the  decline  in  the  number  engaged  in 


509] 


TENURE  AND  ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS 


115 


Decline  in 
Rural  Population 

Illinois 
/9O0-/9/0 


116  AAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS  [510 

agriculture  may  have  helped  to  account  for  the  decline  in  unin- 
corporated population  after  1900  it  could  not  account  for  the 
decline  between  1890  and  1900. 

The  number  of  people  dwelling  outside  of  incorporated 
places  in  excess  of  those  actually  engaged  at  farming  was  1,206,- 
081  in  1890,  1,149,540  in  1900,  and  1,074,022  in  1910,  a  decrease 
of  132,059  in  the  twenty  years.  While  the  number  actually 
occupied  at  farming  increased  3.3  per  cent  during  the  two 
decades,  the  rest  of  the  unincorporated  population  declined  11.0 
per  cent.  The  percentage  of  the  unincorporated  population 
actually  engaged  in  agriculture  was  26.4  in  1890,  28.8  in  1900  and 
29.4  in  1910.  It  is  suggested,  therefore,  that  a  part  of  the  rural 
decline  is  due  to  such  causes  as  reduction  in  the  size  of  families, 
removal  or  disappearance  of  persons  not  occupied  at  any  line,1 
and  the  reduction  in  the  relative  number  occupied  at  other  than 
agricultural  pursuits  while  resident  in  the  country. 

The  number  actually  engaged  in  farming  would  be  still 
larger  in  Illinois  but  for  the  fact  that  improvements  in 
machinery  make  it  possible  for  an  individual  to  cultivate  a  large 
area.  The  acreage  of  all  farm  land  per  individual  actually 
engaged  in  farming  in  Illinois  was  71.2  in  1890,  71.4  in  1900 
and  73.5  in  1910;  or,  considering  improved  acreage  only,  60.0 
in  1890,  60.3  in  1900,  and  63.4  in  1910.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  land  is  being  farmed  with  less  human  labor. 

The  change  in  rural  population  thus  appears  to  be  more  a 
symptom  and  consequence  of  general  economic  changes  than  a 
causal  factor.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  readjustments 
in  rural  population  have  at  least  offered  occasion  for,  and  often 
have  been  causes  affecting  the  prevalence  of  particular 
forms  of  tenure.  The  movement  of  owners  to  the  city  has  doubt- 
less led  to  a  larger  portion  of  the  land  owned  by  them  being 
rented,  both  before  and  after  the  title  changes  to  their  heirs. 
The  movement  of  farm  families  has  doubtless  been  accompanied 
by  the  enlargement  of  areas  of  operation,  if  not  by  the  growth 
of  holdings. 

The  changes  in  tenure  have  contributed  not  so  much  to 
reduce  the  number  of  unincorporated  inhabitants  as  to  change 
the  composition  of  the  rural  population. 


percentages  of  the  total  population  occupied  in  Illinois  in  1890 
was  35.4;  in  1900,  37.4;  and  in  1910,  40.7.    See  above,  p.  35. 


511]  TENURE  AND  ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  117 

CO-OPERATIVE  ENTERPRISE  AND  RURAL  INSTITUTIONS 

The  relation  of  tenure  to  co-operation  in  Illinois  is  a  sub- 
ject on  which  there  is  as  yet  very  little  data.  The  most  impor- 
tant forms  of  farm  mutual  or  co-operative  business  organizations 
now  existing  in  the  state  are  the  co-operative  creameries,  grain 
elevators,  mutual  insurance  and  telephone  companies,  and  county 
agricultural  improvement  associations.  The  elevators  are  found, 
for  the  most  part,  in  the  districts  where  tenants  are  most  num- 
erous. In  the  case  of  creameries  and  county  associations,  which 
are  located  chiefly  in  the  Northern  counties,  the  tenants  in  the 
surrounding  districts  are  not  so  numerous  as  in  the  Central 
part  of  the  state,  but  their  numbers  have  been  increasing  with 
great  rapidity.  Neither  instance,  however,  establishes  a  depend- 
ence of  co-operation  on  tenancy.  The  territorial  association 
between  the  prevalence  of  tenancy  and  the  number  of  co-opera- 
tors is  a  negative  one  in  the  case  of  mutual  insurance  companies, 
and  this  is  probably  true  also  in  the  case  of  mutual  telephone 
companies. 

The  territorial  association  or  dissociation  of  tenant  farm- 
ing with  the  existence  of  co-operative  organizations  can,  how- 
ever, be  little  more  than  suggestive.  In  nearly  all  parts  of  the 
state  there  are  enough  owners  within  proper  radius  to  form  the 
nucleus  of  any  kind  of  co-operative  organization  thus  far 
developed  in  the  state.  On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be  said  with- 
out claiming  too  much  that  co-operation  has  brought  such  pros- 
perity as  to  have  enabled  tenants,  in  any  large  degree,  to  become 
owners  of  land  formerly  rented  in  the  vicinity. 

That  tenants,  changing  from  farm  to  farm  at  more  or  less 
short  intervals,  should  generally  be  more  active  and  successful 
than  owners  in  building  up  co-operative  organizations  is  hardly 
in  the  line  of  reason.  It  is  a  somewhat  striking  fact,  however, 
that  one  of  the  most  successful  advocates  of  farmers'  elevators 
in  the  state  has  been  and  still  is  a  tenant  farmer.  The  fact 
remains,  nevertheless,  that  the  shifting  of  tenants  injures  their 
ability  to  promote  co-operative  organizations  and  thereby 
deprives  them  of  their  share  of  the  advantages  which  might 
otherwise  accrue  to  them.  This  is  probably  less  true  where 
the  co-operative  organizations,  such  as  farmers'  elevators,  have 
forced  prices  in  the  direction  favoring  the  farmers,  for  all 
farmers,  regardless  of  their  term  of  operation  in  a  particular 
vicinity,  get  the  advantage  of  the  more  favorable  prices  so 


118  LAND   TENURE   IN   ILLINOIS  [512 

long  as  within  range  of  markets  dominated  by  the  quotations  of 
the  co-operative  organizations. 

If,  in  the  future,  co-operation  assumes  forms  requiring 
greater  permanency  of  membership  in  the  societies,  greater 
intimacy  of  acquaintance  among  the  members,  or  greater  invest- 
ment per  member,  the  tenants  will  doubtless  find  themselves 
handicapped  in  their  relation  thereto. 

Other  features  and  institutions  of  rural  life  probably  suffer 
as  much  or  more  than  co-operative  societies  from  the  replace- 
ment of  owners  by  tenants.  On  the  whole,  the  tenants  cannot 
do  as  much  toward  stimulating  business  as  the  owners  might. 
A  part  of  the  negligence  of  the  rural  schools  can  be  traced  to  the 
absenteeism  of  landowners.  The  shifting  of  tenant  families 
gives  rise  to  problems  for  the  county  church,  taking  members 
of  various  sects  and  denominations  into  communities  where  their 
religious  views  are  not  represented  in  an  organized  communion, 
and  cutting  off  the  chance  for  the  development  of  deep  friend- 
ships and  associations  which  give  vitality  to  church  life.  Church 
and  school  finances  must  naturally  suffer  from  the  displacement 
of  better-to-do  landowners  by  tenants  struggling  to  get  an  eco- 
nomic foothold.  The  relation  of  tenancy  to  the  education  and 
social  life  of  the  rural  population  and  to  the  vitality  of  religions 
organizations  deserves  much  more  thoroughgoing  investigation 
than  has  yet  been  given  it.2 

EQUIPMENT  IN  FARM  BUILDINGS 

A  map  is  presented  showing  the  average  value  of  buildings 
per  acre  of  improved  land  in  Illinois  in  1910.  It  is  apparent 
that  the  sections  where  values  were  relatively  highest  were  the 
sections  where  land  was  only  slightly  above  the  average  in  value. 
Where  land  was  highest  the  value  of  buildings  per  acre  was  near 
the  state  average.  In  Southern  Illinois  the  value  of  land  and  of 
buildings  per  acre  were  less  than  in  the  rest  of  the  state.  In 
the  vicinity  of  cities  the  value  of  buildings  seems  to  be  higher, 
due  in  part  to  the  greater  number  of  farms  in  a  given  area, 
in  part  to  the  greater  need  of  buildings  on  farms  producing 
for  a  local  market,  and  in  part,  perhaps,  to  the  radiation  from 
the  cities  of  ideals  in  the  architecture  of  residences.  In  the  dis- 

2See  [Adams,  C.  S]  A  Rural  Survey  in  Illinois,  191 1,  and  Rankin, 
F.  H.,  Report  on  "General  Conditions  in  Rural  Communities,"  in  the 
Report  of  the  Commission  on  Rural  Problems?  and  the  Relation  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  to  their  Solution,  1912. 


513] 


TENURE   AND   ECONOMIC    CONDITIONS 


119 


Average  Value  * 
0/;Bu/Wmgs 

/Icre 
Illinois 
1310 


120  LAND   TENURE   IN   ILLINOIS  [514 

tricts  where  tenant  farming  was  most  prevalent  the  value  per 
acre  of  buildings  was  small,  and  from  1900  to  1910  increased  at 
no  more  than  the  average  rate.  This  may  be  traceable  in  part 
to  the  abandonment  of  buildings  on  some  patches  of  ground 
rented  to  part  owners  and  to  a  tendency  for  tenant  farms  to 
suffer  from  lack  of  concern  on  the  part  of  the  landlord  for  the 
buildings  with  which  his  tenant  has  to  do. 

CONCENTRATION  ON  CEREAL  PRODUCTION 

In  1879  the  greatest  concentration  on  cereals  in  any  part 
of  the  state  was  in  the  Southern  and  Southwestern  counties.  In 
1889  the  percentages  in  Central  Illinois  were  tending  in  general 
to  surpass  those  in  Southern  Illinois.  In  1899  and  in  1909 
these  tendencies  had  gone  still  farther.  In  Northern  Illinois 
there  was  greater  concentration  on  the  cereals  in  1899  than  in 
1889  or  1879.  In  1909,  however,  the  percentages  as  a  whole 
showed  a  tendency  to  diminish. 

It  seems,  therefore,  that  the  movement  toward  concentra- 
tion on  cereal  production  has  been  most  persistent  and  has  gone 
to  the  greatest  extremes  in  the  districts  where  a  large  portion  of 
the  land  is  leased;  that  in  the  districts  where  ownership  has 
been  most  persistent  there  has  been  a  movement  away  from  spe- 
cialization in  the  cereal  crops ;  and  that  even  in  Northern  Illinois, 
where  the  percentage  of  tenancy  has  not  been  much  above  the 
state  average,  there  was  a  decided  trend  toward  cereal  produc- 
tion during  the  period  when  tenants  were  multiplying  most 
rapidly  in  that  part  of  the  state.  It  is  apparent  that  there  has 
been  a  strong  emphasis  on  the  production  of  corn  in  the  original 
prairie  districts  of  the  state.  It  would  be  hard  to  say  to  what 
extent  tenant  farming  is  responsible  for  this.  The  fact  that 
with  the  increase  in  tenant  farming  the  emphasis  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  materially  increased  leads  one  to  think  that  the 
land  may  be  rented  fully  as  much  because  it  is  corned  as  that 
it  is  corned  because  of  being  rented.  It  is  probable,  however, 
that  with  so  much  land  operated  under  lease  operators  would 
be  slow  to  make  any  material  reduction  in  the  acreage  devoted 
to  raising  a  crop  the  returns  from  which  are  so  sure  and  so 
immediate. 

TENANCY  AS  A  SYMPTOM  AND  AS  A  CAUSE 

In  the  agricultural  economy  of  Illinois  fundamental  physio- 
graphic conditions  are  very  important.  The  importance  of  their 


515]  TENURE   AND   ECONOMIC    CONDITIONS  121 

influence  on  settlement  and  on  early  conditions  of  land  tenure 
is  generally  admitted.  That  the  influence  of  physiographic 
conditions  has  not  diminished,  but  that  it  has  perhaps  increased 
with  the  advent  of  machinery  and  market  economy  is  one  con- 
clusion reached  in  this  thesis.  In  the  dynamic  changes  that 
have  taken  place,  the  districts  have  gained  much  or  little,  or  lost 
little  or  much,  according  as  they  compared  favorably  or  other- 
wise with  other  districts  at  the  start.  The  differences  between 
sections  of  Illinois  have  been  widening  on  nearly  all  bases  of 
comparison,  and  these  differences  may  usually  be  found  to  have 
a  physiographic  basis. 

The  importance  of  renting  as  a  causal  factor  is  emphasized 
in  this  investigation.  Its  significance  as  a  symptom  or  accom- 
panying phase  has  been  pointed  out  by  nearly  every  economist 
who  has  written  upon  tenancy.  The  belief  is  urged  here  that 
renting  may  promote  a  restraint  in  agricultural  production,  and 
may  supply  a  sort  of  pension  to  encourage  an  uneconomic  atti- 
tude toward  their  investment  on  the  part  of  some  owners  of  farm 
land.  In  the  case  of  land  that  produces  crops  the  area  of  pos- 
sible or  profitable  production  of  which  is  not  subject  to  expan- 
sion as  rapidly  as  demand  for  those  crops  increases,  farming 
may  assume  some  of  the  characteristics  of  monopoly.  The  con- 
certed action  necessary  for  the  realization  of  monopoly  advant- 
age is  brought  about,  not  by  conscious  compact,  but  uncon- 
sciously through  ignorance  of,  inability  or  indisposition  to 
employ  sound  methods  of  agriculture.  To  the  extent  that  tenants 
are  inefficient  it  may  be  said  that  renting  reduces  the  supply  of 
agricultural  produce,  raises  prices  of  produce,  increases  the 
profits  from  raising  it,  and  enhances  land  values.  The  state- 
ment of  Adam  Smith  that  ' '  rent  enters  into*  the  composition  of 
the  prices  of  commodities  in  a  different  way  from  wages  and 
interest"3  may  not,  under  present-day  conditions,  be  quite  as 
unfounded  as  the  critics  maintain,  for  rents  determine  the 
amount  of  renting,  and,  so  far  as  they  are  exorbitant,  doubtless- 
incite  the  tenants  toward  more  exhaustive  methods. 

The  changes  in  the  economic  conditions  of  Illinois  agricul- 
ture appear  to  have  taken  place  with  a  sort  of  periodicity.  A 
decade  of  great  change  was  followed  by  one  of  little  change, 

3Smith,  Adam,  Wealth  of  Nations,  (Buchanan  edition),  Vol.  I,  243. 
See  also,  Walker,  Francis,  Land  and  Its  Rent,  27 ;  and  the  debate  between 
Carlton,  F.  T.,  and  Haney,  L.  H.,  in  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics, 
XXIV,  XXV  and  XXVI. 


122  LAND   TENURE   IN   ILLINOIS  [516 

and  that  by  one  of  greater  change  in  the  case  of  a  number  of 
the  phenomena  of  agriculture  to  which  reference  has  been  made 
in  this  thesis.  It  appears,  moreover,  that  to  a  certain  extent  the 
practice  of  renting  has  been  stimulated  by  both  phases  of  the 
periodic  movement. 

RISING  LAND  PRICES   AS  A  HANDICAP  TO  POPULAR   OWNERSHIP  AND 

GOOD  FARMING 

In  the  advances  that  have  occurred  the  landless  farmers 
have  not  shared  equally  with  tht-  landed  farmers.  The  specu- 
lative element  in  land  values  has  been  a  decided  handicap  to 
those  without  land.  Owners  hold  the  land  at  a  value  capitalized 
at  a  rate  below  that  at  which  money  may  be  borrowed  for  the 
purchase  of  land.  The  greater  the  discrepancy  between  the  two 
rates  the  smaller  is  the  portion  of  the  market  value  for  which  a 
mortgage  loan  can  be  negotiated  on  the  purchased  land.  As  a 
consequence  of  these  conditions  the  opportunity  for  tenants  to 
acquire  land  has  been  greatly  reduced. 

Whether  reduced  loan  rates  would  enlarge  the  expectancy 
of  ownership  for  those  entering  agriculture  without  land  is  a 
question.  Within  certain  limits  the  reduction  of  loan  rates 
would  probably  reduce  the  rate  at  which  the  value  of  land 
would  be  capitalized,  and  thus  stimulate  the  transfer  of  land. 
The  consequence  would  be  a  rise  in  land  prices,  not  only  because 
of  the  greater  demand  for  land  but  also  because  of  the  expecta- 
tion of  future  increment  in  value.  Since,  however,  the  rate  at 
which  land  is  capitalized  depends  not  only  on  rates  of  return 
in  agriculture,  but  also  on  rates  of  return  in  business  in  general, 
it  is  probable  that  farm  loan  rates  could  be  reduced  so  as  to  be 
brought  nearer  to  the  rate  at  which  land  prices  are  capitalized. 
To  the  extent  that  this  is  possible,  a  reduction  in  loan  rates 
would  probably  assist  the  landless  in  acquiring  land,  especially 
in  the  districts  where  land  is  highest  in  price.  The  cheaper 
loans  should  be  available  to  those  who  give  evidence  of  becoming 
or  remaining  actual  farm  operators. 

The  prominence  of  land  values  in  discussions  of  tenant 
farming  leads  logically  to  a  discussion  of  proposals  to  control 
land  prices.  For  the  most  part  the  upward  movement  in  the 
prices  of  farm  lands  in  Illinois  was  not  a  rapid  one  between 
1860  and  1900,  Increment  could  not  have  played  a  prominent 
part  in  the  calculations  of  land  owners.  Land  was  owned  chiefly 
by  those  who  contributed  much  to  the  developments  which  pro- 
duced the  rise  in  land  prices.  From  about  1900  on,  however, 


517]  TENURE   AND   ECONOMIC    CONDITIONS  123 

a  somewhat  different  condition  has  been  prevailing.  During  the 
recent  period  the  rise  in  land  prices  came  without  regard  to  the 
contribution  made  by  the  owners  to  the  agriculture  of  the 
country.  The  districts  where  land  prices  have  moved  forward 
most  have  been  those  in  which  small  expenditures  need  be  made 
by  owners  for  fertilizers  and  improvements.  It  would  seem, 
therefore,  that  some  method  of  making  the  rise  in  land  prices 
reward  the  public  would  have  been  preferable  during  the  period 
of  phenomenal  price  increments.  A  tax  of  25  per  cent  of  the 
increment  in  the  case  of  land  bought  in  1900  at  $80  an  acre  and 
sold  in  1910  at  $200  would  have  yielded  $30.  If  one-eighth  of 
such  land  had  been  transferred  and  taxed,  the  proceeds  would 
have  been  $2400  a  section,  or  nearly  $10,000  a  school  district. 
The  expenditure  of  half  this  amount,  $500  a  year,  within  the 
school  district,  for  roads,  schools,  and  other  public  purposes 
would  have  been  a  considerable  factor  in  rural  improvement. 
The  other  half,  if  devoted  to  general  tax  purposes  in  the  county, 
state  and  nation  would  have  been  of  great  fiscal  usefulness.  Not 
least  of  all  advantages  that  might  have  come  from  such  a  scheme, 
however,  is  that  of  repressing  speculation  in  land.  The  tendency 
for  longer  association  of  owners  with  their  land,  on  which  a 
premium  would  thus  have  been  placed,  would  have  done  some- 
thing to  combat  the  practice  of  short  leases  and  of  temporary 
association  with  the  land  on  the  part  of  tenants. 

Whether  a  tax  on  the  increment  is  desirable  now  is  another 
question.  It  is  pretty  certain  that  agitation  for  such  a  tax  can- 
not be  expected  to  be  strong  among  land  owners  so  long  as  the 
increment  is  accruing  strongly  in  their  sections.  For  that 
reason  it  seems  probable  that  increment  taxation  may  not  be 
expected  at  the  time  when  it  might  be  most  effective  as  a  check 
on  land  speculation. 

THE  OUTLOOK 

With  land  prices  at  the  present  stage  it  seems  likely  that 
the  increment  element  must  become  less  important  and  the 
rental  element  more  important  in  the  calculations  of  land  owners. 
When  the  annual  increment  is  $10  on  land  valued  at  $100,  based 
on  a  net  rental  return  of  $6  capitalized  at  6  per  cent,  the  incre- 
ment is  the  source  of  five-eighths  of  the  addition  to  the  land- 
lord's income  and  wealth  during  the  year.  If,  however,  the 
annual  increment  is  the  same  amount,  $10,  on  land  valued  at 
$200,  based  on  a  net  rental  return  of  $10  capitalized  at  5  per  cent, 


124  LAND   TENURE   IN   ILLINOIS  [518 

the  increment  is  the  source  of  one-half  of  the  addition  to  the 
landlord's  income.  The  tendency  for  the  interest  rate  to  fall 
is  responsible  for  the  failure  of  the  increment  to  decline  even 
more  rapidly  in  importance  in  the  calculations  of  the  land 
owner.  That  the  interest  rate  will  fall  as  rapidly  on  account  of 
the  expectancy  of  future  rise  in  land  prices  is  less  likely  the 
higher  the  stage  of  land  prices.  An  annual  increment  of  $10 
in  the  case  of  $100  land  is  10  per  cent  on  the  investment  and  in 
the  case  of  $200  land  is  5  per  cent.  We  may  expect,  therefore, 
that  anticipation  of  future  rise  in  value  will  exert  a  smaller 
influence  both  on  the  rate  at  which  land  is  capitalized  by  owners 
and  on  the  annual  income  or  addition  to  the  wealth  of  the  land 
owner. 

Because  greater  emphasis  must  fall  on  the  rental  as  a  source 
of  return  on  the  high  priced  lands,  we  may  probably  expect  a 
pressure  by  land  owners  for  higher  rents.  This  pressure  has 
already  been  exerted  in  some  cases.  An  intensified  selective 
process  is  thus  made  operative.  The  demand  for  efficiency  falls 
upon  farmers  of  all  tenures. 

Farming  efficiency  in  the  future,  however,  will  probably 
consist  to  a  greater  extent  in  the  ability  to  increase  net  profits 
through  co-operative  dealing  with  the  market.  The  efficiency 
test  must,  therefore,  rule  more  strongly  against  operators  of  the 
tenures  whose  characteristics  are  opposed  to  successful  co-opera- 
tive effort  on  their  part. 

It  is  not  necessary,  however,  that  the  farmers  of  other  ten- 
ures operate  as  efficiently  as  the  owners  themselves  would  oper- 
ate. If  owners  prefer  to  have  their  land  operated  by  others  than 
themselves,  and  if  their  holdings  are  sufficiently  large,  they  may 
content  themselves  with  the  financial  disadvantage  resulting 
from  their  refusal  to  operate  their  own  land. 

The  coming  of  the  automobile  and  improved  roads  and  the 
extension  of  rural  delivery  routes  and  of  telephones  may  remove 
the  main  disadvantages  of  rural  residence.  Improved  oppor- 
tunities of  applying  business  methods  in  agriculture  with  a  favor- 
able reaction  on  profits  will  doubtless  attract  people  of  better 
training  and  experience  into  the  operation  of  farm  land. 

The  test  of  productive  efficiency  may  be  somewhat  slow  in 
acting  and  costly  but  it  bids  fair  in  the  long  run  to  penalize 
unsound  farming  regardless  of  the  tenure  of  the  operators,  and 
to  guarantee,  therefore,  the  survival  of  the  best  forms  of  tenure 
and  of  the  best  individual  operators. 


APPENDIX 

The  United  States  census  bureau  supplied  unpublished  data 
by  means  of  which  the  author  calculated  the  percentages  that 
follow. 

I.  The  percentage  of  the  farm  acreage  operated  by  part  owners  under 
lease,  and  under  deed,  by  counties,  Illinois,  1910:    Adams,  7.5,  n.o;  Alex- 
ander, 1.9,  4.0;  Bond,  8.4,  15.4;  B'oone,  3.5,  3.5;  Brown,  7.7,  n.6;  Bureau, 
6.5,  7.4;  Calhoun,  6.1,  10.2;  Carroll,  data  incomplete;  Cass,  6.7,  8.9;  Cham- 
paign, 9.0,  8.9;  Christian,  8.3,  8.9;  Clark,  10.3,  13.7;  Clay,  9.6,  14.9;  Clinton, 

7.5,  14.3;  Coles,  7.7,  8.2;  Cook,  5.3,  4.2;  Crawford,  10.4,  13.3;  Cumberland, 
14.6,  17.7;  De  Kalb,  3.9,  4.9;  De  Witt,  8.7,  7.5;  Douglas,  8.9,  8.8;  Du  Page, 

1.6,  1.4;  Edgar,  11.7,  9.7;  Edwards,  14.8,  24.3;  Effingham,  9.3,  17.7;  Fayette, 

12.2,  17.8;  Ford,  5.6,  5.3;  Franklin,  9.4,  13.9;  Fulton,  5.5,  6.9;  Gallatin,  10.6, 
13.9;   Greene,  9.6,   11.4;   Grundy,  6.4,  7.7;   Hamilton,  8.8,    15.6;    Hancock, 
9.1,  ii. 5;  Hardin,  1.9,  4.6;  Henderson,  8.3,  9.1;  Henry,  5.2,  6.2;  Iroquois, 
7.4,  7.2;  Jackson,  8.1,  11.8;  Jasper,  13.5,  21.8;  Jefferson,  8.0,  15.0;  Jersey, 
9.6,  12.2;  Jo  Daviess,  3.0,  5.0;  Johnson,  4.6,  9.6;  Kane,  1.6,  2.2;  Kankakee, 
8.0,  8.6 ;  Kendall,  4.0,  4.5 ;  Knox,  7.4,  8.2 ;  Lake,  5.0,  6.3 ;  La  Salle,  6.5,  6.8 ; 
Lawrence,  10.2,  10.8;   Lee,  data  incomplete;  Livingston,  7.4,  7.8;  Logan, 

5.8,  5.6;  McDonough,  8.1,  8.5;  McHenry,  1.7,  2.3;  McLean,  7.8,  7.3;  Macon, 
8.0,  7.6;  Macoupin,  8.5,  11.5;  Madison,  6.7,  10.3;  Marion,  10.4  17.6;  Mar- 
shall, 7.7,  9.2;  Mason,  8.0,  7.9;  Massac,  data  incomplete;  Menard,  9.8,  8.8; 
Mercer,  5.7,  6.3;  Monroe,  10.1,  17.9;  Montgomery,  8.4,  11.7;  Morgan,  10.4, 
10.5;  Moultrie,  10.2,  9.7;  Ogle,  5.3,  6.0;  Peoria,  8.1,  9.0;  Perry,  8.1,  12.5; 
Piatt,  7.5,  6.9;   Pike,  8.4,  8.6;   Pope,  4.0,  7.4;   Pulaski,  7.5,  9.2;   Putnam, 

8.9,  8.7;  Randolph,  8.1,  n.6;  Richland,  10.2,  16.0;  Rock  Island,  5.0,  6.1; 
Saline,  7.2,  13.5;  Sangamon,  10.2,  9.7;  Schuyler,  7.9,  12.3;  Scott,  9.8,  12.6; 
Shelby,  10.0,  n.6;  St.  Clair,  6.7,  9.1;  Stark,  6.6,  8.9;  Stephenson,  4.9,  6.6; 
Tazewell,  7.3,  8.2;  Union,  5.9,  10.0;  Vermilion,  9.4,  7.7;  Wabash,  9.6,  10.2; 
Warren,  9.3,  9.5;  Washington,  7.3,  13.8;  Wayne,  9.0,  16.6;  White,  9.6,  11.5; 
Whiteside,  3.8,  4.3;  Will,  6.8,  7.5;  Williamson,  6.9,  10.3;  Winnebago,  4.1, 
4.4;  and  Woodford,  8.6,  6.3. 

II.  The  percentage   of   the   farm  acreage   operated  under  lease  by 
tenants  and  part   owners,   and   under   deed  by  owners   proper   and  part 
owners,  by  counties,  Illinois,   1910 :     Adams,  39.9,  58.9 ;   Alexander,  41.1, 
56.2;  Bond,  44.0,  55.4;  Boone,  56.4,  43.0;  Brown,  36.9,  62.9;  Bureau,  55.7, 
41.2;  Calhoun,  37.6,  59.5;  Carroll,  data  incomplete;  Cass,  48.0,  51.2;  Cham- 
paign, 66.2,  32.7;  Christian,  66.2,  32.3;  Clark,  38.6,  60.9;  Clay,  34.1,  63.4; 
Clinton,  54.4,  44.8;  Coles,  56.0,  42.0;  Cook,  50.5,  46.5;  Crawford,  40.1,  58.7; 
Cumberland,  40.6,  58.1;  De  Kalb,  58.0,  40.3;  De  Witt,  68.6,  29.6;  Douglas, 
61.1,   36.3;   Du   Page,  53.2,  44.6;   Edgar,  58.3,  40.1;   Edwards,   31-3,  68.2; 
Effingham,  30.4,  69.1;  Fayette,  43.0,  56.2;  Ford,  75.3,  23.7;  Franklin,  34.1, 
64.5;   Fulton,  47.9,  50.3;   Gallatin,   50.8,  48.4;   Greene,  47.0,  48.2;  Grundy, 

67.3,  31.4;  Hamilton,  32.0,  56.0;  Hancock,  46.4,  51.9;  Hardin,  21.6,  77.8; 
Henderson,   48.5,    50.0;    Henry,   56.6,   41.6;    Iroquois,  66.5,   30.4;   Jackson, 

42.4,  45-3J  Jasper,  36.1,  63.1;  Jefferson,  31.8,  67.4;  Jersey,  47-3,  SLI  J  Jo 

125 


126 


LAND  TENURE  IN  ILLINOIS 


[620 


Daviess,  29.5,  69.4;  Johnson,  22.2,  74.0;  Kane,  54.2,  42.2;  Kankakee,  53.0, 
44.3;  Kendall,  56.3,  42.3;  Knox,  54.7,  42.0;  Lake,  41.8,  50.8;  La  Salle, 
58.2,  41.2;  Lawrence,  36.7,  51.7;  Lee,  data  incomplete;  Livingston,  68.2, 
31.0;  Logan,  72.4,  26.9;  McDonough,  53.5,  449;  McHenry,  50.3,  47.1;  Mc- 
Lean, 65.0,  32.4;  Macon,  68.5,  29.4;  Macoupin,  51.5,  47.1;  Madison,  51.0, 
48.3;  Marion,  32.9,  65.4;  Marshall,  68.3,  31.4;  Mason,  66.8,  32.8;  Massac, 
data  incomplete;  Menard,  56.4,  43.2;  Mercer,  47.8,  50.1;  Monroe,  50.1,  49.4; 
Montgomery,  51.6,  47.2;  Morgan,  51.8,  47.0;  Moultrie,  60.2,  38.7;  Ogle, 
57.8,  40.2;  Peoria,  50.3,  48.1;  Perry,  35.8,  62.3;  Piatt,  62.8,  29.7;  Pike, 

45.7,  52.2;  Pope,  23.4,  75.9;  Pulaski,  37.8,  61.7;  Putnam,  59.4,  39.6;  Ran- 
dolph,  41.8,   58.0;   Richland,  32.2,   66.0;    Rock  Island,  44.6,   53.2;    Saline, 

34.8,  62.9;    Sangamon,  60.8,  37.4;    Schuyler,  43.5,   54.3;    Scott,  49.1,  49.0; 
Shelby,  51.7,  46.7;  St.  Clair,  54.4,  45.3;  Stark,  54.0,  44.6;  Stephenson,  43.3, 
55.9;  Tazewell,  594,  38.5;  Union,  38.5,  59.1;  Vermilion,  63.2,  34.8;  Wa- 
bash,  44.9,  54.9;  Warren,  56.5,  38.3;  Washington,  43.7,  55.6;  Wayne,  31.0, 
67.5 ;  White,  46.6,  53.0 ;  Whiteside,  60.5,  37.8 ;  Will,  49.2,  49.9 ;  Williamson, 
35.2,  64.1 ;  Winnebago,  49.7,  49.1 ;  and  Woodford,  61.1,  37.9. 


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INDEX 

Acreage  in  farms,  relation  of,  to  tenure,  29,  64,  71-81 ;  statistics  of,  63. 
Age  of  operators,  relation  of,  to  tenure  and  mortgage  encumbrance,  108- 

iii.  j  f  •  * 

Agricultural  population.    See  Population. 
Allodial  tenure,  9. 
Buildings,  farm.     See  Equipment. 
Cash  tenants,  prevalence  of,  23,  82-85;  size  of  farms  of,  85-88;  equipment 

of,  89-91 ;   income  and  expenditure  statistics  of,  91,  92 ;  emphasis  in 

farm  practice  shown  by,  92-96;  age  of,  108,  note  60. 
Cereal  productions.    See  Farm  practice. 
Church,  rural,  relation  of,  to  tenure,  118. 
Color  of  operators.     See  Negroes,  Race,  etc. 
Co-operative  enterprise,  relation  of,  -to  tenure,  117,  118. 
Equipment  of  operators,  89-91,  118-120. 
Expenditures  of  operators.    See  Income,  etc. 
Families  per  farm,  82. 

Farm  practice,  emphasis  of  operators  in,  25-27,  92-96,  120. 
Glaciers,  influence  of,  on  soils,  30. 

Income  and  expenditure  of  operators,  some  items  of,  91,  92. 
Institutions,  rural,  relation,  to  tenure,  117,  118. 

Landlords,  classification  of,  20;  residence  and  landed  wealth  of,  104-108. 
Managers,  statistics  of,  15,  45,  56;  size  of  farms  of,  17,  87,  88;  equipment 

of,  89-91 ;   income  and  expenditure  statistics  of,  91,  92 ;  emphasis  in 

farm  practice  shown  by,  92-96. 
Mortgage  encumbrance,  statistics  of,  18,  96-101;  relation  of,  to  leasing,  19; 

ratio  of,  to  value  of  property  mortgaged,  19,  99. 
Nativity  of  operators.    See  Race,  etc. 

Negroes,  as  slave  laborers  in  agriculture,  11;  as  farm  operators,  102-104. 
Operators,  farm.     See  Cash  Tenants,  Managers,  Owning  Operators,  Part 

Owners,  Share-cash  tenants,  Share  tenants,  etc. 
Operating  owners.    See  Owning  operators. 
Owners-and-tenants,  income  and  expenditure  statistics  of,  91,  92;  emphasis 

in  farm  practice  shown  by,  92-96. 
Owning  operators,  early  prevalence  of,   10;   increasing  prominence  after 

1900,  18;  statistics  of,  45,  59-62;  size  of  farms  of,  85-88;  equipment 

of    farms    of,   89-91;    income   and   expenditure   statistics   of,   91,   92; 

emphasis  in  farm  practice  shown  by,  92-96. 

See  also  Tenancy,  Part  Owners,  Owners  and  tenants. 
Part  owners,  size  of  farms  of,  15,  87,  88;  the  economic  status  of,  21; 

statistics  of,  56-60;  income  and  expenditure  statistics  of,  91,  92;  em- 
phasis in  farm  practice  shown  by,  92-96. 
Physiographic  characteristics,  30,  31. 

Population,  preeminence  of  agricultural,  in  the  United  States,   10;  total, 

134 


629]  INDEX  135 

33;  agricultural,  34-37;  rural,  113-116;  relation  of,  to  tenure,  116,  117. 

Prairie.    See  Timber  and  prairie. 

Price  of  land  (including  buildings),  relation  of,  to  tenure,  27,  67-81; 
historical  tendency  in,  39,  40;  variations  in,  65-77,  passim. 

Productions,  farm,  description  of,  41,  42. 

Productiveness  of,  land  variations  in,  30,  64-66;  relation  of,  to  tenure, 
67-74. 

Property,  farm,  value  of,  39,  40. 

Public  domain,  cessions  by  the  states  to,  9;  rate  of  disposal  of,  10. 

Rural  church,  rural  institutions,  rural  school,  rural  population.  See  church, 
institutions,  school,  population. 

Race,  color  and  nativity  of  operators,  102-104. 

School,  rural,  relation  of,  to  tenure,  118. 

Share-cash  tenants,  prevalence  of,  23,  82-85;  size  of  farms  of,  85-88; 
income  and  expenditure  statistics  of,  91,  92;  emphasis  in  farm  prac- 
tice shown  by,  92-96. 

Share  tenants,  prevalence  of,  23,  82-85;  size  of  farms  of,  85-88;  equipment 
of,  89-91;  income  and  expenditure  statistics  of,  91,  92;  emphasis  in 
farm  practice  shown  by,  92-96. 

Size  of  farms,  before  1880,  12;  since  1900,  15;  relation  of,  to  tenure,  15, 
68-88  passim;  variations  in,  65-69. 

Tenancy,  as  a  causal  factor,  120-122;  predictions  regarding,  123,  124.  See 
Tenants.  ' 

Tenants,  statistics  of,  13-17,  44-62;  negroes  as,  23;  basis  of  renting,  em* 
ployed  by,  23,  83-85;  owning  some  land,  21-25;  on  farms  with  special- 
ized products,  26 ;  relation  of,  to  the  price  of  land,  27,  29,  65-81 ; 
relation  of,  to  the  area  of  land  in  farms,  28;  relation  of,  to  timber, 
43 ;  relation  of,  to  value  of  products,  65-81 ;  relation  of,  to  size  of 
farms,  65-81 ;  equipment  of  farms  of,  89-91 ;  income  and  expenditure 
statistics  of,  91,  92;  emphasis  in  farm  practice  shown  by,  92-96;  re- 
lation of,  to  decline  in  rural  population,  116;  relation  of,  to  coopera- 
tive enterprise,  117,  118;  relation  of,  to  business,  church  and  school, 
118;  relation  of,  to  equipment  in  farm  buildings,  118-120;  relation  of, 
to  cereal  production,  120;  relation  of,  to  rising  land  prices,  122-124. 

Tenure,  trend  of,  in  the  United  States,  1850  to  1880,  II,  12;  trend  of,  in 
the  United  States,  1880  to  1910,  13-18. 

See  also  Cash  tenants,  Managers,  Owners-and-tenants,  Owning  oper- 
ators, Part  owners,  Share-cash  tenants,  Share  tenants. 

Timber  and  prairie,  influence  of,  on  soil,  31 ;  relation  of,  to  pioneer  farm- 
ing, 32,  33 ;  relation  of,  to  tenure,  43,  65,  71,  72. 

Topography,  influence  of,  on  farming,  30. 

Yields.    See  Productiveness. 


VITA 

The  writer  was  born  at  Moweaqua,  Illinois,  September  3, 
1890.  His  preparatory  work  was  done  in  the  Moweaqua  High 
School.  From  1907  to  1911  he  attended  Illinois  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity at  Bloomington,  Illinois,  taking  the  A.B.  degree.  From 
1911  to  1915  he  did  graduate  work  in  the  University  of  Illinois, 
taking  the  A.M.  degree  in  1912,  holding  a  research  assistantship 
in  economic  history,  1912-1913,  a  half-time  instructorship  in 
economics  in  1913-1914,  and  a  fellowship  in  economics  in  1914- 
1915.  The  summer  of  1914  was  spent  in  Germany  in  Berlin 
University  in  an  attempt  to  fulfill  an  appointment  to  a  traveling 
fellowship  from  the  University  of  Illinois  for  1914-1915. 

Publications:  An  Analysis  of  Rural  Banking  Conditions 
in  Illinois.  Chicago,  Illinois  Bankers  Association,  1913.  8vo. 
38  pages. 


Land  Tenure  in  the  United  States 
With  Special  Reference  to  Illinois 


BY 


CHARLES  LESLIE  STEWART 

A.  B.  Illinois  Wesleyan  University,  1911 
A.  M.  University  of  Illinois,  1912 


Thesis  submitted  in  partial  fulfillment  of  the  require. 

ments  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  in 

Economics  in  the  Graduate  School   of  the 

University  of  Illinois 


Reprinted  from  the 

University  of  Illinois  Studies  in  the  Social  Sciences,  Vol.  V,  No.  3 
Urbana,  Illinois,  1916 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


LAND  TENURE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  URBANA 


